Pietà

Michelangelo sculpted this heartbreaking image of Mary holding the dead Christ when he was only 24 years old. The Virgin appears impossibly young, her face serene despite her grief, while Christ's body drapes across her lap with anatomical perfection. It remains the only work Michelangelo ever signed.

The pyramidal composition draws the eye upward from Christ's lifeless form to Mary's downcast face. Michelangelo polished the marble to an almost luminous finish, particularly on the figures' skin. When critics questioned Mary's youthful appearance, he reportedly said that chaste women retain their youth longer.

The sculpture resides in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, now protected behind glass after a 1972 attack damaged Mary's face and arm.