Pieta by Michelangelo - Essay Example

The Pieta is also the only work ever signed by Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Pieta was created during the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a cultural movement that lasted between the 14th and 17th century. It started in Italy in the final period of Middle Ages and consequently spread to the remaining parts of Europe. Socially, the period included creative flowering of vernacular and Latin literature, starting with the 14th century revival of learning found on the basis of classical sources, which contemporaries attributed to Petrarch, the establishment of linear perspective and other methods of portraying a more natural veracity in painting, and steady but extensive educational reform.

During this period, the states were made up of four social classes. The nobles were in possession of much of the land. They also stayed on sizeable estates outside the city. They disdained the merchants and lived according to the regulations of gallantry. The merchants were the newly rich. They got their wealth from sectors, for example, banking, boat making and wool processing. They tried to safeguard their property by marrying into the noble family and controlling the government. They also became supporters of talented artists so as to acquire public favor.

The workers occupied the lowest position. They were extremely dependent on their employers and did not have job security. Those who went against the rules could be dismissed from their occupations or have their wages withheld (Wallace 72). Nonetheless, the workers had better lives than peasants who were situated in the rural areas. Politically, this period played a significant part in the development of the standards of diplomacy. It is often argued that the intellectual change acted as a bridge between the Modern era and the Middle Ages.

Even though this period was marked by revolutions in a number of intellectual activities, as well as political concerns, it is conceivably best recognized for its artistic creations. The distinctive political structures of this period have made some people to hypothesize that its remarkable social climate permitted the surfacing of an exceptional cultural efflorescence. Also, a large number of the cities during this time were developed among the wrecks of ancient Roman structures. It appears likely that the nature of this period was connected to its basis in the heartland of the Roman Empire (Wallace 74).

Economically, there was the surfacing of successful merchants and cities. These merchants got considerable income from foreign customers and their urban subjects. The trade kept the cities functioning. Also, the thoughts were taken to the cities, and capital was amassed. In addition, cities were areas of creative mind and production of wealth. Merchants offered a ready market for goods, and it was only in the city, with the assistance of talented individuals that the development of magnificent goods and the complicated technology of producing books were probable.

The social, political, and economic factors contributed Michelangelo Buonarroti’s approach to the creation of the Pieta. Artists of this period required new benefactors to finance their work, and the rich merchants of cities were the ones reasonable to pay the expenditures. The Pieta was one of the works which was supported by the wealthy merchants (Wallace 98).