Luke 23: 50-56
Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and alaid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
John 19: 38-42
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
"Pieta" (1547-1555),
Michelangelo Buonarroti,
Museo dell' Opera del Duomo, Florence, Italy
"Pieta" (1499), Michelangelo
Buonarroti,
St Peter's Basilica, Rome, Italy
The image on the upper left might be my favorite sculpture of
Michelangelo's! Also titled "The Deposition" or "The Florentine
Pieta", this is one of two sculptures he completed just before his
death. Left unfinished and rough (you
can see the chisel marks), it is very different from the famous
"Pieta" in St Peter's Basilica in Rome (the image on the lower right).
Sculpted when Michelangelo was 24 years old, the earlier "Pieta"'s style is typically High Renaissance with beauty to the extreme and shining marble surfaces. There is a serenity with controlled emotion that is almost detached.
What I love about the later "Pieta" is the passion and drama. A complex arrangement of twisted bodies, the figures of Nicodemus (or perhaps Joseph of Arimathea), Mary and Mary Magdalene create a pyramidal structure with Nicodemus at the vertex. It is full of the drama of despair and loss, Mary cannot lift the body alone and is supported and sheltered by the powerful figure of Nicodemus. There is a sense of motion, the serpentine form of the dead Christ reflecting the heaviness of death. Unlike the earlier version, the figures aren't isolated from the dead body, but blended in their desperation and pain.
This "Pieta" was originally intended for Michelangelo's own tomb, the figure of Nicodemus is a self-portrait. In this "Pieta" Nicodemus, Michelangelo's own incarnation of himself, cradles the head of Christ, focusing his energy on the strength and tenderness with which the Savior should be treated in death. In his later years Michelangelo was focusing his art to the glory of God. "Neither painting nor sculpting can longer quieten my soul, turned now to that divine love which on the cross, to embrace us, opened wide its arms." (from "Michelangelo: The Poems")
Meditation:
When faced with the death of Christ, do you approach it with detached and controlled emotion, or do you allow it to be full of passion and drama, desolation and despair? Do you reach out to the broken body of Christ in your pain and desperation?
Prayer:
Dear Savior, whose broken body and spilled blood brings life, help us to experience the passion and pain of the cross to reach the grace and healing of the resurrection. Open wide your arms and embrace us with your divine love.
Sculpted when Michelangelo was 24 years old, the earlier "Pieta"'s style is typically High Renaissance with beauty to the extreme and shining marble surfaces. There is a serenity with controlled emotion that is almost detached.
What I love about the later "Pieta" is the passion and drama. A complex arrangement of twisted bodies, the figures of Nicodemus (or perhaps Joseph of Arimathea), Mary and Mary Magdalene create a pyramidal structure with Nicodemus at the vertex. It is full of the drama of despair and loss, Mary cannot lift the body alone and is supported and sheltered by the powerful figure of Nicodemus. There is a sense of motion, the serpentine form of the dead Christ reflecting the heaviness of death. Unlike the earlier version, the figures aren't isolated from the dead body, but blended in their desperation and pain.
This "Pieta" was originally intended for Michelangelo's own tomb, the figure of Nicodemus is a self-portrait. In this "Pieta" Nicodemus, Michelangelo's own incarnation of himself, cradles the head of Christ, focusing his energy on the strength and tenderness with which the Savior should be treated in death. In his later years Michelangelo was focusing his art to the glory of God. "Neither painting nor sculpting can longer quieten my soul, turned now to that divine love which on the cross, to embrace us, opened wide its arms." (from "Michelangelo: The Poems")
Meditation:
When faced with the death of Christ, do you approach it with detached and controlled emotion, or do you allow it to be full of passion and drama, desolation and despair? Do you reach out to the broken body of Christ in your pain and desperation?
Prayer:
Dear Savior, whose broken body and spilled blood brings life, help us to experience the passion and pain of the cross to reach the grace and healing of the resurrection. Open wide your arms and embrace us with your divine love.
Written by Nancy S. Livengood
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