Michelangelo's Pieta
The PietÃÂÃÂ by Michelangelo is in the Vatican in Rome.
This famous artwork depicts the dead body of Jesus after his crucifixion in the arms of his mother Saint Mary.
They are quite out of proportion, owing to the difficulty of depicting a fully-grown man cradled full-length in a woman's lap. If Christ were to human scale, the Virgin, standing, would be sixteen feet tall. However, owing to Michelangelo's skill, much of the Virgin's size is concealed in her drapery, and the figures look quite natural.
Michelangelo's PietÃÂÃÂ was damaged on May 21, 1972 by Lazlo Toth, who hammered the sculpture, while shouting "I am Jesus Christ."