We offer
museum quality replicas of religious statue gifts that
range from a bust of Christ with a crown of thorns to
Jesus Christ after his death being held in Mary's arms.
The other directly Christian character that is available
as a gift is the bearded moses who kneels with the ten
commandments, from Mount Sinai, under one arm.
 Jesus Christ is renowned for having aroused fear among
the Roman secular authorities and the Jewish priesthood.
This happened after he gathered the twelve apostles
and began to establish the Christian church ministry.
The charismatic leader of Nazareth (Jesus) was also
known as Jehoshua, Joshua and is considered by some
to the primary judean Jewish martyr, prophet, and religious
leader. Baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus, was later
betrayed by Judas Iscariot at Gethsemane where he was
seized by Roman soldiers and brought before Sanhedrin
to be examined and condemned as a false prophet. He
was sent to Pontius Pilate on charges of sedition then
later moved to Herod Antipas only later to return back
to Pontius Pilate before being handed over to the Jewish
authorities for execution. Christ (Jesus) was crucified
at Golgotha and this act was regarded by Christians
to signify him as "the divine son of god"
as foretold in the Old Testament by Moses, the hebrew
prophet, and leader of the Israeli Exodus from Egypt
across the Red sea.
Michelangelo was
only in his early twenties and still relatively unknown
to the world as an artist when he was commissioned in
1498 to do a life size sculpture of the Virgin Mary
holding her son, Jesus, in her arms after his death.
Pietas, like these, have been created in many different
forms by various painters and sculpture artists, but
none stand out like the Pieta by Michelangelo. As it
turned out this would be only the first of four and
the only one he actually finished and unveiled for the
Jubilee of 1500 at St. Peter's Basilica. In less than
two years Michelangelo carved from a single slab of
marble one of his most magnificent sculptures ever created.
His interpretation of the Pieta was far different than
the ones that had been previously created by any other
artists. One of the things that makes Michelangelo's
Pieta different is that he decided to create a youthful,
serene and celestial Virgin Mary instead of a broken
hearted and somewhat older woman. When the Pieta was
unveiled a proud Michelangelo stood by and watched as
people admired the beautiful Pietas statue until his
pride turned into anger after he overheard a group of
people starting to attribute the work to other artists
of his time. Interestingly the anger Michelangelo felt
caused him to add one last thing to his Mary-Jesus sculpture.
Running down the sash strap on the shoulder of the Virgin
Mary Michelangelo decided to carve his name in fleeting
attempt to gain recognition. Later on he regretted that
he let his emotions get the better of him and vowed
never again to sign another statue. |
