Pietà (Michelangelo)

Michelangelo's Pietà of 1498 to 1499 in St. Peter's Basilica, made for the French cardinal Jean de Bilhères. A strikingly young Mary holds the dead Christ across her lap, and the mass of drapery spilling over her knees is what makes a grown man's body rest there believably. Look for the strap running across her chest: it carries Michelangelo's name in Latin, the only work he ever signed.