The pietà is a common theme throughout the history of Western art; it pertains to a work of art that depicts the Virgin Mary with her son Jesus Christ after Jesus’s death and descent from the cross. Depicting the mother’s love for her son after he endures great suffering, the word “pietà” roughly translates to “pity” or “compassion.” Michelangelo’s Pietà One of the most famous pietàs is by the renaissance artist Michelangelo. At the end of the 15th century, at the age of 24, Michelangelo finished “The Pietà,” commissioned by a cardinal named Jean de Billheres for a chapel at Old St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Michelangelo said he created “The Pietà” from a perfect block of Carrara marble that allowed him to achieve a high degree of detail and polish. The finished product looked less like marble and more like clothed human beings. He depicts the Virgin Mary saddened …