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Michelangelo's Mary
May 2006

By Elizabeth Lev

Throughout history Michelangelo's name has been inexorably linked with the grand images of heroic men. His David, Adam and the awesome Christ of the Last Judgment all attest to the majesty and beauty of the male form.

In contrast, Michelangelo's portrayal of women tends to draw criticism, suggesting everything from the artist's inexperience of women to outright misogyny. But a closer look at his female figures through a Christian lens indicates that this artist not only exalted the male form but also revolutionized the representation of women, particularly in his portrayal of Mary, mother of God. From his earliest efforts to his last works, Michelangelo presented an innovative and stirring image of the Blessed Mother as Christianity's greatest heroine.

Michelangelo's first public work was the Pietà of St. Peter's Basilica. Only 23 years old at the time of the commission in 1498, the sculptor nonetheless produced an astonishing representation of Mary. The composition, which shows Jesus lifeless on his mother's lap after his deposition from the cross, is intended to evoke compassion or "pietà" in the viewer. At the time this subject matter was rare in Italy, as Italians favored depictions of the Madonna and Child. The Pietà was traditionally employed in Northern Europe, particularly in France and Germany.

The versions of the subject known to Michelangelo would have featured an aged Mary, her face contorted by grief, grasping the stiff, unwieldy body of her Son still scarred by the marks of His passion.

Michelangelo completely eschewed this cross-type composition, allowing the figure of Mary to define the form of the group. The pyramid formed by her head and feet completely encloses the body of the recumbent Christ presenting Mary as a living shroud for her Son.

Mary's youthful mien has provoked much fanciful speculation from critics as diverse as art historians to psychologists. While claiming that a young Mary is a tribute to the artist's mother - who died when he was six - creates a touching backdrop, it doesn't further our understanding of the work nor does it reflect the priorities of such a commission. When asked about Mary's youthfulness, Michelangelo himself gave an explanation which is usually only quoted in part. First he states the "women who are chaste remain much fresher than those who are not." Then the artist goes on to venture that this freshness "may also conceivable have been given divine assistance in order to prove to the world the virginity and perpetual purity of the mother."¹ This recognition of Mary's special grace harkens back to the teachings regarding the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin which were much discussed during the youthful years of the artist. Michelangelo's long association with the Franciscan order - his parish was the Franciscan church of Santa Croce in Florence and he was a Third Order Franciscan himself - seems to have helped shape his vision of the Blessed Virgin.

The Franciscan order supported the teaching that Mary had been conceived without original sin. This presupposed that God had planned the Redemption of man from the beginning of time and had already determined Mary's role. As Mary agreed to the Divine plan she became the vehicle through which man's salvation could take place.

This momentous "yes" of Mary also offers a clue to understanding her facial expression. Far from the anguished, wailing Madonnas of the northern Pietàs, Mary's face is a study in the smooth classical planes without a furrow or wrinkle to be seen - a visible representation of Saint Paul's description of the Church of which Mary is a figure, presented "in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind" (Ephesians 5:27). This expression, described by some as "aloof" or "resigned" really represents the solemn acceptance of God's will. Her eyes humbly downcast as she gazes at her Son, one can almost hear her words, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word: (Luke 1:38).

But Michelangelo envisions Mary's "yes" as more than just passive acceptance, but also as active cooperation in the story of salvation. Mary tenderly cradles the body of her Son with her left hand, while the right hand has already released Him and opens in a gesture of offering. Although the sculptor created a disproportionate Mary to be able to fit the body of a grown man in the arms of a woman, her massive lap cannot contain Christ's body which appears to be on the brink of falling onto the altar below. The original arrangement of the sculpture in a small round chapel would have made this aspect of the work more obvious to the viewer than it is today.

Attending Mass at the altar of the Pietà, the congregation would have seen the shining white Host raised at the consecration in front of the shining white Body of Christ. From the shadows of the niche, Mary would seem to be bringing her Son's body to the altar. While one feels compassion for the passive mother who helplessly watches events unfold before her eyes, one stands in awe before this woman who had so much faith in God as to knowingly participate in His plan. In the art of Michelangelo, Mary's example does not simply move us to pity: it stirs us to greater faith.

Returning to Florence in 1503, Michelangelo created another surprising image of the Blessed Virgin for a private painting commissioned by collector Agnolo Doni.

The work was to be executed in the fashionable tondo or circular panel, used for domestic settings and almost always featuring the Holy Family. Instead of the ethereal Madonnas of Botticelli or Filippo Lippo - who pioneered this art form - Michelangelo painted the most dynamic figure of the Virgin to date.

Mary, the central figure of the composition, reaches over her shoulder to receive her Son. The painter's choice of colors enhances her significance.

Michelangelo used muted blues and beiges for most of the panel, reserving the brilliant metallic hues for the Blessed Mother. Mary's sleeve, rolled up over her shoulder, reveals a taut, bare arm unusual in Marian iconography. Jesus steps over her shoulder steadying Himself by placing his hands on His mother's upturned head. The masterful foreshortening technique of Michelangelo extends Mary's knees towards the viewer as she twists her torso backwards to grasp the Infant Christ. The tightly wound position of the Madonna readying herself to bring Jesus from the background into the foreground of the painting, expresses the active nature of her "yes" to God in bearing Christ.

In a new, very innovative interpretation of painting, art historian Msgr. Timothy Verdon, a canon of the cathedral of Florence, has suggested that the older man who passes Christ to Mary, typically thought to be St. Joseph, is actually God the Father, "from whom the Son proceeds ab aeterno." Msgr. Verdon sees the painting as the "temporal and moral 'moment' of the Incarnation, when of his own free will the eternal Word came forth from the Father to assume human flesh in the body of a woman, and could do so because the woman freely cooperated."²

Again Michelangelo presents the heroic example of the Blessed Virgin underscored by her energetic physical form. Her strong limbs are mitigated by her face, softly aglow as she gazes towards her Son in adoration. Duality, a Michelangelo forte, finds beautiful expression in this Marian representation as he portrays strength and humility in a single glorious figure.

In his last painted Marian image, begun over 30 years after the Doni Tondo, Michelangelo maintained the same exalted and unique vision of the Blessed Virgin and her active role in man's salvation. In the fresco of the Last Judgment painted in the Sistine Chapel from 1534 to 1541, he presented an awe-inspiring depiction of Christ, one which had never been seen before. But along with his revolutionary rendering of the stern, muscular Jesus, he represented a fascinating Mary, whose interpretation often eludes modern viewers.

Earlier Last Judgment paintings traditionally placed Christ in the center of the composition flanked by Mary and John the Baptist at equal distances. While they were always the people closest to Jesus, they were never physically connected to Him. Michelangelo, however, kept John the Baptist on one side, but nestled Mary next to her Son, placing her at the very heart of the Last Judgment.

Upon closer inspection, the Blessed Virgin appears unusual in her form as well as her positioning. Michelangelo painted the Virgin without the softness of Leonardo's brush, or Raphael's composed elegance, but created a statuesque woman with bold outlines and solid mass. The rubbed lapis shading on Mary's leg highlights the complex and dynamic position of her body which is completely turned towards her Son while her head turns away to look downwards in the opposite direction. Her face, as in the Pietà, watches calmly with downcast eyes and no sign of distress or fears mars her features.

The authoritative Jesus of the Last Judgment is one of the most overwhelming figures in the history of art. Michelangelo used the body of a Hellenistic statue to convey the power and force of Christ the Judge but then added a classical head, which lends the figure an austere and distant expression. Jesus turns his face away from the viewers, raising a sharply foreshortened hand which seems to be consigning souls to Hell. Standing below this dramatic fresco, it appears impossible to approach Christ.

Mary, on the other hand, appears serene in the mighty presence of her Son, curling by His side in a manner that seems less that of a mother and more like that of a bride. Indeed, in Michelangelo's Last Judgment, Mary represents the Church, the bride of Christ. Just as Jesus, forceful, young and beautiful appears as the new Adam, so Mary, strong and lovely, takes her place as the new Eve. The contrasting directions of Mary's head and limbs allude once again to her active participation in the salvation of mankind. Mary's folded hands rest by the wound in Christ's side from whence the Church came and gentle gesture of Christ's left hand, fingers framing the gash, is drawing souls into Heaven.

Never a passive onlooker in Michelangelo's art, Mary plays a vital role in all the steps of man's Redemption.

People today are more critical of Michelangelo's representation of women than his contemporaries were, even though his presentation of the greatest woman in Catholic history seems more in tune with what we admire in women today. Modern aesthetic tastes admire the lean and muscular female form more than the soft, voluptuous women painted by Raphael or Rubens. What woman today would not want to appear to the world as strong, active, and youthful as well as able to bear tremendous responsibility with extraordinary grace? In Michelangelo's vision, Mary provides a timeless example for women of the greatness that can be achieved, if one can just say "yes" to God.

¹Ascanio Condivi Life of Michelangelo, trans. Alice Sedgwick, Wohl Penn State Press, 2001, p. 27

² Timothy Verdon, Mary in Florentine Art, Mandragora Press, Florence, 2003, p. 98.

Elizabeth Lev is an art historian in Rome.