Mary of Pieta by Michaelangelo

Mary of Pieta by Michaelangelo | 49”x 66” | Oil on Canvas

Mary, the mother of Jesus, with his body laying across her lap, holds her 33 year old son, The Christ.
 
Here I have focused closely on the face of Mary. Her face was sculpted as a young woman, younger than one who has an adult son. Michelangelo had his reasons for this… “A pure, virtuous woman doesn’t age.”
She is lovely.
 
For this painting of his iconic masterpiece, sculpted from stone, I chose to use a warm, more life-giving, brownish range of gray values, rather than cold bluish grays.
 
Also, rather than holding true to the smoothness of the sculpted stone, I generously applied all of the paint with a palette knife, creating a textural surface to the skin, fabric, and the rich dark background. There is easily ten times the amount of paint on this canvas, as there would have been, if it were painted with a brush in my usual style.
 
As viewers have stood before this work of art, and pondered the life and faith of this mother of God, (she who “pondered these things in her heart”), there have been some deeply meaningful, and personal experiences.
 
This was a challenging painting, due to the size of the canvas, the thick application of paint, and fast dry time caused by the raw umber mixed in. Working quickly, and getting things right the first time, were necessary for a proper finish to the drying surface of the paint. Happily, all worked out nicely.
 
The original painting comes in a shadow box style frame crafted for the artist. The painting comes with a Certificate of Authenticity booklet which includes the palette knife used by the artist to paint this work of art.
 
"You should have the Art you Love."