"La Pieta."

The principal work of Michael Angelo's youth--"that work by which he suddenly passed from being an esteemed artist to the most famous sculptor in Italy"--is at present in St. Peter's, Rome, but in such a poor light that it is almost impossible to obtain a sight of it.

Michael Angelo was only twenty-four years old when he completed his "La Pieta." ("La Pieta" is the name given by Italians to the group consisting of the dead Christ and the mourning Mary.)

Condivi says, "He was the first master in Italy, the first in the world from henceforth." He is said to have taken as his models for the group, subjects of the Court of the Inquisition.

Grimm says of this group, "Our deepest sympathy is awakened by the sight of Christ; the attitude of the whole human form lying there, as if by death he had again become a child whom the mother had taken in her arms."

The Cardinal of San Dionigi, a Frenchman, commissioned Michael Angelo to execute this work.

The position of the two figures with regard to each other was not an unusual one at that time. Many painters before Michael Angelo had so represented Mary and Christ, but Michael Angelo in his "Pieta" has far surpassed them all.

"La Pieta" was finished in 1499. Grimm says,--

"Whatever previously to this work had been produced by sculptors in Italy passes into shadow, and assumes the appearance of attempts in which there is something lacking, whether in idea or in execution. Here both are provided for. The artist, the work, and the circumstances of the time, combine together; and the result is something that deserves to be called perfect."