This magnificent original bronze was created from Michelangelo’s original marble sculpture in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome authorized by Vatican officials in 1932.

The Pietà is Michelangelo’s most admired of his sacred conceptions. Its fame was widely spread during Michelangelo’s lifetime by requests for copies in marble and plaster. Many scholars have observed that when sculptors copied the Pietà, they invariably introduced modifications. A plaster cast taken directly from the original is the most faithful possible duplication of its volumes and form.

The Marinelli foundry is the oldest foundry in Europe and the official foundry of the Vatican. Among others, the Marinelli Foundry has cast original bronzes of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Doors (also known as the Gates of Paradise) for the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence, the Porcellino sculpture from the straw market in Florence, and Michelangelo’s David. The Marinellis were selected owing to their reputation as the finest bronze workers in Italy. They continue a century-old tradition for upholding the highest standards of quality and craftsmanship while faithfully abiding by the original artistic intentions of the master. It was earlier in the twentieth century when the Marinellis initiated the painstaking process of making plaster molds directly from masterpieces by Michelangelo, Donatello, Bernini, Cellini, Verrocchio, and others. Many of these sculptures are icons in art history.

For the first time in history Michelangelo’s Pietà has been created in the exact same dimensions as the original marble. This masterwork is not simply a passable copy; rather, is a rigorously faithful, perfect likeness of this exceptional work of art, which took more than a year—from casting to surface finishing—to complete. This bronze has been sanctioned by the museums as authentic and original. In hindsight, the Marinellis’ initiatives were prescient because museums worldwide generally prohibit the making of molds from original sculptures today.

During the early 20th century, the concept of the limited edition was adopted by sculptors. They knew that with rarity guaranteed, values were reinforced. The most successful adoption of the rarity-authenticity-value principle in posthumously cast limited edition bronzes is exemplified in the estate collections of Auguste Rodin [1840-1917], Edgar Degas [1834-1917], and Alberto Giacometti [1901-1966]. The French government has officially recognized the posthumous castings of these masters as “original” and “authentic” bronzes. The Muséé Rodin continues to produce authentic Rodin bronzes today. They even sold out a reduced -size version of Rodin’s famous Thinker cast in gold apparently at $1,000,000 each in China. The second example is Degas. After his death in 1917, as many as seventy-four small figural sculptures in wax, clay, and plaster were found in his studio. He had made many sculptures but only exhibited one piece during his lifetime, in 1881. After his death, the Degas estate had these works cast in bronze, and many are now owned by major museums, including a significant collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1999, Degas’ Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans which was cast posthumously in 1922, fetched a record $12.4 million. The third prominent example of posthumous bronzes involves Giacometti. In 2002, a group of his sculptures were sold at auction in Paris, including the bronze, La Cage, which Giacometti conceived in 1950, an was cast posthumously in 1990—forty years after the original was created and more than twenty-four years after his death. But it sold for $1,569,280.

In the Spring of 2007, the market for ancient bronzes was awed, as was the entire art market, when Sotheby’s sold a vintage (ca.100 BC-100 AD) Roman bronze, Artemis and the Stag, for $28.6 million, setting a new record as the most expensive piece of sculpture ever to sell at auction. the 36-inch tall bronze is less than half the size of the 78-inch bronze Artemis and the Stag in the Vatican Museums Collection. The Vatican’s variant shows the goddess reaching for an arrow from her quiver while a stag leaps by her side. The smaller record-breaking version shows the goddess moments after having released an arrow from her bow. If the Vatican decided to sell their version today, it would likely fetch a comparably strong price.

Looking back over the centuries, we see that copyists produced shallow imitations of Renaissance and Ancient bronzes in bronze, always in reduced sizes. The Pietà has never before been carefully recreated in its exact size—68 1/2 by 76 3/4 inches—until now.

This original bronze cast of Michelangelo’s Pietà has met the standards and approval of the museum world for two inseparable reasons. The first reason, provenance. The Vatican Museums, source of the marble Pietà provides impeccable provenance. The second reason is quality. The reputation of the Marinelli Foundry and its long distinguished history is important. Their craftsmen’s faithfulness to the period methods of casting and finishing is a critical reassurance for the museums. The mold used for Michelangelo’s Pietà has been preserved in pristine physical condition. This magnificent work is so faithful to the Pietà in marble that shows the musculature details and the tiniest details, such as veins. The lost wax process is so painstaking that the work took more than a year to complete, needing several weeks just to bake out the wax before beginning the arduous process of careful hammering, chiseling and chasing to remove imperfections. The bronze proudly bears the Marinelli Foundry mark as well as its unique number within the strictly limited edition and the year in which it was cast.

For any collector who feels the history of art in the deepest way, this is an opportunity to own one of the world’s great masterpiece, if not the greatest masterpiece. The Pietà carries a direct line of provenance and an inseparable bond with the Vatican and represents one of the highest artistic achievements of world culture. There is balance of power, grace and passion that emanate from Michelangelo’s Pietà.

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