I first encountered Michelangelo in Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstasy way back in 1965. I have re-read the book a couple of times since then, getting a better appreciation of the man and his art with each reading. And I have a tattered, second- (or third-) hand copy with me now. The pages helped bring Florence to life - or vice versa - as we searched out each of Michelangelo's sculptures, from his first, "The Madonna of the Stairs" at Casa Buonorrati to his last, the "Rondanini Pieta."
The Sforza Castle in Milan houses unfinished "Rondanini Pieta," the last statue he would carve. It's hard to imagine a man in his late 80s even contemplating such a work, let alone spending the final years of his life, hammer and chisel in hand, chipping away at a massive block of marble.
Art historians believe the piece on exhibit was his second version of the Pieta using the same marble. He re-carved Jesus with his head nearer to Mary's. And you can easily see two right arms, the original and the new position. Jesus's legs, already polished, seem to be from the first version but his right foot has been changed.
I guess this either dispels the "chip away everything that isn't Mary or Jesus" theory of sculpting or Michelangelo completely changed his mind about the nature of the two at the time Jesus's body was taken from the cross.
