Like the beginning of every good story, someone found in a dusty box in their attic the fragments of a damaged statuette…
And it turned out, after a long restoration process, that this statuette was the authentic maquette of Michelangelo’s Pietà…
Moreover, it revealed the true intentions of its creator, which had been suppressed by the Vatican for being deemed inappropriate for the Catholic religion.
But what scandal was this sculpture trying to illustrate?
Michelangelo is said to have been a devoted student of Gnostic wisdom, and despite the dangerous times of the Inquisition, he supposedly attempted to imbue his works with that forbidden wisdom, which was considered heretical and threatening to the order established by the Church.
A debate that arose as early as the unveiling of the Pietà concerned the age of Jesus’ mother, who was clearly portrayed as being in her twenties rather than in her fifties… Michelangelo is said to have argued that Mary’s face needed to appear young to symbolize eternal youth and purity.
Once the restoration of the maquette was completed, and its authenticity confirmed beyond any doubt, experts quickly noticed that it featured an additional figure… clearly, the body of a CUPID, with the strap of his quiver clearly visible.
This astonishing detail cast the sculpture in an entirely unexpected light, for at the time, this symbol—often used in art and frequently by Michelangelo himself—represented the love between two beings.
Digital artists quickly scanned the damaged maquette and completed the piece by reconstructing the missing arm and, of course, the head and wings of the cupid.
The result speaks for itself and is truly extraordinary. But what is even more extraordinary is that the restored and reconstructed maquette explains why Michelangelo had sculpted Mary’s face so young… It was not meant to represent Mary, the mother of Jesus, but Mary Magdalene, the wife of Jesus. It is therefore no surprise that the Vatican of the time demanded the final sculpture be different…
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