MICHELANGELO Buonarroti
(b. 1475, Caprese, d. 1564, Roma)

Pietà (detail)

c. 1550
Marble
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence

The figure of Nicodemus is holding the body of Jesus, just taken down from the Cross, close to his breast in sorrow. According to Vasari, the Florentine Pietà includes a self-portrait of the artist as Nicodemus and had originally been intended to surmount Michelangelo's own tomb.