The Vatican Pieta - A Shocking Discovery

Sword of the Lord

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I'm watching a very interesting documentary on Michelangelo and his hidden pagan symbolism in Christian art. Right now they are covering the Vatican Pieta; how it's very odd that Mary is depicted to be about 20 years old, while the crucified and dead Jesus would be about 33 years old. The story Michelangelo told Orthodox authorities was that Mary was so pure, so perfect, the Virgin, that depicting her as a young woman was perfect symbolism.

HOWEVER...

Michelangelo's presentation model of the Pieta has been discovered, with some shocking discoveries. The model has what, at first glance, appears to be an angel at Mary's side, holding Jesus' left arm and hand up. But upon further inspection, this angel is no angel at all. There is a leather strap and a quiver of arrows, making the angel no angel at all, but a Cupid. Angels would have never been depicted this way. Somebody tried to break these pieces off, but they left enough of it behind for experts to identify. Michelangelo attempted to insert a pagan symbol of carnal love into Christian art. In ancient Latin, Cupid is the God of desire and love, and in Greek, Eros, meaning erotic. The sexual implications cannot be ignored. The Cupid connects Jesus to a woman, a woman oddly young, much younger than he, and much, much younger than the actual Mary at the time of his crucifixion and death. Leaving one to conclude that this young woman was not originally intended to be the true Mary the Mother of Jesus, but his lover. Perfect, subtle pagan symbolism. Of course he couldn't have such a piece in a church, let alone the Vatican, so upon accepting his model, he was forced to leave the Cupid out; yet he kept the symbolism of the young woman, now going with the story that Mary was so pure, so perfect, the Virgin, that depicting her as a young woman was perfect symbolism.

This is a theory that would have fallen flat, been considered bunk, unworthy of attention, until the discovery of his model piece and the documentation of Michelangelo being the artist of the model piece in the writings of rich families living in Bologna during the 16th century.
 

Sword of the Lord

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Examining the model Pieta from behind, the young woman and her cloak, the way it is spread, and the way she is leaning, is anatomically perfect to a human heart, her head even being the perfect resemblance of the arteries.
 
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Sword of the Lord

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Michelangelo was one sneaky fellow.

His teachers Pico and Poliziano were confirmed to have died from poisoning of arsenic, likely due to their teachings which were completely unacceptable at the time.

Pope Julius the Second commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Rather than paint Jesus over the Pope's door, he paints what he claims to be the minor prophet Zechariah; who, in this depiction, is the perfect resemblance of Pope Julius the Second. Now, behind the Pope are 2 Cherubic figures. One of them has his thumb sneakily inserted in between his pointer finger and his middle finger, sticking out, which in the 1400's and 1500's was the equivalent to sticking up your middle finger, flipping the bird. Michelango was subtlety flipping off the Pope, likely for the death of this 2 teachers.
 
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Sword of the Lord

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More Michelangelo symbolism in his art on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel:

i-8f3e98954abf5fe1ae31ef7866873835-paluzzisistine.jpg
 
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Fantine

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I remember the nuns telling us that Michaelangelo went to the morgues and dissected human corpses to learn about the musculature and bone structure that lay under the skin. This is why his statues are so lifelike.

And I guess that if Asian, African, and South American people have had to put up with fair-skinned, blue-eyed Jesus and Mary for many centuries, we Caucasians can deal with Renaissance Jesus and Mary. They are all just representations of the artist's perception.
 
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LivingWordUnity

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The real Pieta doesn't have cupids in it, so I think this model of the Pieta (which itself is disputed) doesn't prove that Michelangelo was pagan in his beliefs. And there's nothing wrong with portraying the Virgin Mary as being young.
"It was originally attributed by Italian art experts to Andrea Bregno, one of the most celebrated sculptors of the 15th century."

(Source)​
 
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Sword of the Lord

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It doesn't have a Cupid because they forced him to keep it out. The model Pieta is made up of the same chemical compound in the clay (white clay) that he was famous for using, while others did not, is exactly his style of sculpture, and it written about as his by rich families in Bologna in the 16th century.
 
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Sword of the Lord

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To be more specific, Michelangelo used white clay because when baked it had a marble like appearance which he coveted. It contains a large percentage of lime; others of his time used redder clays that contained more iron. It was tested in a lab in Italy and during the chemical analysis they found that the white clay sculpture contains less iron and more silica and calcium. 48.23% silica and 16.27% calcium, virtually identical to Michelangelo's preferred formula. It is documented in the writings of the rich family Casale living in Bologna, Italy in the 16th century: "A model of a Pieta made by Michelangelo of Terracotta."

He kept the young face, ditched the Cupid when he was busted.
 
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Sword of the Lord

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I didn't have a photo until I spent 30 seconds at Google. Oddly enough, this still happened without a photo about 500 years ago. Weird! This is a reflection on hidden Michelangelo symbolism, not the RCC. Here is an image of what is left of the presentation model:

Pieta2_1774854e.jpg


The Cupid is to our right, their left. As I said, someone tried to break him off but left enough for experts to identify. What is left of the quiver of arrows and leather strap is on the Cupid's back, naturally. If you want more images, visit this website: Google

The documentary was part of the Biblical Conspiracies series launched by Science on the 14th or 15th of this month. You can watch everything I watched and see the model from all angles by watching this show. It was very neat.
 
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Sword of the Lord

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From the back the woman, the Mary, makes an anatomically perfect human heart. Her cloak is spread perfectly, the wrinkles make perfect arteries, and her head from behind is shaped in such a way that it perfectly resembles the arteries coming out of the top of the heart. Perfect symbolism like the brain symbolism above.
 
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AMDG

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Yes. See above your post ADMG. :) ;) :p ^_^

Thanks, I have an old family program that I like (was "grandfathered" in) even though it doesn't get all the channels (absolutely NO profanity and NO scandalous commercials either--just news, religion, and kiddie shows with a couple of Hallmarks thrown in--almost forgot and a couple of channels that cater to the old programs that used to be aired in the starting in the 60s) and sometimes I don't know what channel I've landed on when I switch through looking for something interesting. :sorry: I must be getting the Science channel then! :p Must put it on my list to regularly choose.
 
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