This weekend, thousands of pilgrims visit St. Peter's Basilica for the Easter festivities and the most revered work is the Pietà by Michelangelo Buonarotti. 

It was 1497 when the artist at the age of 25, received from Cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas on behalf of the French king, the task of carving a "Pietà", that is a Virgin with a dying Christ in her arms. The cardinal commissioned the statue to place it in the chapel of the kings of France in the Vatican for celebrations of the 1500 Jubilee when thousands of French pilgrims would visit the prestigious chapel. In making it, Michelangelo spent nine months only to choose the marble block and transport it from the Carrara quarries to Rome. It took a year to finish it. This is the only work that Michelangelo has ever signed. The statue as we see it today was co-located in the 18th century. #easter2018 #italiapretiosa #artlovers #rome #vatican