pietà michelangelo

Michelangelo’s Pieta. The sculptural masterpiece of the 15th century.

In 1498 the Cardinal Jaen Bilhéres de Lagraulas of France arrived in Italy with the court of Charles VIII, the king of France, who commissioned to the young Michelangelo to curve a marble group. The work would last a year for a total cost of four hundred and fifty gold ducats, as per contract. The Cardinal, obsessed with “greatness”, wanted to have a very prestigious funeral monument never done before. According to the project, the sculptural group would be placed in the chapel …