Michelangelo: Pietà

Author and photographer Robert Hupka writes: "Pieta, an Italian word meaning 'pity', 'compassion', 'sorrow', is derived from the Latin pietas,, signifying 'loyalty to the highest degree......a profound love that neither life nor death can destroy.' The classic meaning of the word pieta is the whole-souled abiding in the Divine Will, but it is also the name traditionally given to works of art representing the dead body of Christ in the arms of His Mother. All photographs were taken at the World's Fair, some during the preparations for the statue's crating. I was in the fortunate position of photographing the statue from angles never before seen. I took thousands of pictures, photographing from every angle at any hour of the day and the night. It was an experience that cannot be put into words, the experience of being in the presence of the mystery of true greatness. As I spent countless hours in these devoted labors of photography, the statue became to me an ever-deeper mystery of faith and beauty, and I was struck by the realization that Michelangelo's greatest masterpiece had never been seen in its full magnitude, except by a very privileged few." With 150 photographs and commentary, the reader can come to know the beauty and mystery of Michelangelo's most magnificent statue through the lens of Robert Hupka.