The Deposition (Michelangelo)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Deposition (also called the Florence Pietà, the Bandini Pietà or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ) is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo. The sculpture, on which Michelangelo worked between 1547 and 1553, depicts four figures – the dead body of Jesus Christ, newly taken down from the Cross, Nicodemus (or possibly Joseph of Arimathea), Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary. The sculpture is housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence.
Michelangelo's last sculptures were two pietàs (or three assuming the Palestrina Pietà is his work). According to Vasari, Michelangelo made the Florence Pietà to decorate his tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. After smashing the sculpture, he gave it to his servant Antonio. Later the servant sold the work and the new owner had it reconstructed by Tiberio Calcagni following Michelangelo's models.
The face of Nicodemus under the hood is considered to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo himself. Additionally, the female figure at left was finished by sculptor Tiberio Calcagni. Cacagni was assigned the job after Michelangelo abandoned the sculpture after eight years of tireless work upon discovering an impurity in the marble that had gone undiscovered until that point.
