Pietà is one of the three common artistic representations of a sorrowful Virgin Mary, the other two being Mater Dolorosa and Stabat Mater. The other two representations are most commonly found in paintings, rather than sculpture, although combined forms exist. . The pietà developed in Germany about 1300, reached Italy about 1400, and was especially popular in Central EuropeanAndachtsbilder. Many German and Polish 15th-century examples in wood greatly emphasise Christ's wounds. The Deposition of Christ and the Lamentation or Pietà form the 13th of the Stations of the Cross, as well as one of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin. Although the pietà most often shows the Virgin Mary holding Jesus, there are other compositions, including those where God the Father participates in holding Jesus. In Spain the Virgin often holds up one or both hands, sometimes with Christ's body slumped to the floor.
A famous example by Michelangelo was carved from a block of marble and is located in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. The body of Christ is different from most earlier pietà statues, which were usually smaller and in wood. The Virgin is also unusually youthful, and in repose, rather than the older, sorrowing Mary of most pietàs. She is shown as youthful for two reasons; God isthe source of all beauty and she is one of the closest to God, also the exterior is thought as the revelation of the interior. The Pietà with the Virgin Mary is also unique among Michelangelo's sculptures, because it was the only one he ever signed, upon hearing that visitors thought it had been sculpted by Cristoforo Solari, a competitor. His signature is carved as MICHAELAGELUS BONAROTUS FLORENTIN FACIEBA "Michelangelo Buonarroti the Florentine did it". , Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence In a lesser known Michelangelo pietà, The Deposition, it is not the Virgin Mary who is holding Jesus' body, but rather Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, and the Virgin Mary. There is some indication that the manin the hood is based on a self-portrait of the artist. The sculpture is housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence and is also known as the Florentine Pietà. A generation later, the Spanish painter Luis de Morales painted a number of highly emotional pietàs, with examples in the Louvre and Museo del Prado.
