Michelangelo’s finished-unfinished masterpiece "Pieta Rondanini"
Michelangelo explored the theme of Pieta all his life, its every representation being different from the traditional approach to this theme. "Mother, you will not lift your son / I cannot separate him from the rock / I don’t have the chisels, anyway," this is what Jacek Kaczmarski sang about the sculpture which Michelangelo created at the end of his life and which is regarded the unfinished work. Similarly to his "Slaves" sculpted for the tomb of Pope Julius II, the characters seem to "liberate" themselves from the marble block, to "separate from the rock." Does this really result from the fact that the artist did not complete the work, or perhaps there is something else behind this?
Curator of the series:
Anna Głowa, PhD is an assistant lecturer with the Department of History of Ancient and Early Christian Art at the Catholic University of Lublin. Her research interests focus on late ancient art, particularly the problem of ancient tradition continuation and its transformations in late ancient art as well as the reception of ancient art in later periods.
About the series:
There are works of art which are instantly recognized by people all over the world, even by individuals uninterested in art. Centuries following their creation, these works continue to fascinate and live on either reinterpreted by other artists or as part of pop culture and advertising. At the same time, however, these well-known works tend to be the most mysterious. What is their mystery about? We encourage you to join us in uncovering these secrets. The series is curated by Anna Głowa. The originator of the series is Mateusz Nowak.
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