ichaelangelo never ceased to be haunted by the theme of the Pieta, and came back to it twice, at the end of his life. It is probably here that his inner evolution can be the most easily grasped.

hus, following Robert Hupka's lead, the second part of the exhibition puts into perspective the Roman Pieta with Michaelangelo's last, the one called the "Rondanini".

his one, which is in the Sforzesco Palace in Milan, is practically unknown to the general public. As the original is too fragile to be removed from the museum, it is represented here by a perfect copy made with the gracious autorisation of the Sforzesco Museum.

erhaps Michelangelo's most poignant work, he was still working on it a few days before his death at 89: the sculptor's last, unfinished, work. The statue is striking, not only in the boldness of it's conception, but also by the way it signals a complete breaking away from the perfect Renaissance aesthetic of the former piece.

his Pieta constitutes the magnetic pole of the second part of the exhibition, the ultimate point Michelangelo's eyes were seeking in his quest for the invisible.

nd the pathos of this latter Piéta answers the luminous serenity of the former work across the whole span of the artist's life. Thus, with a rare intensity, the public is presented with the gripping story of how life took an outstanding genius, and radically shaped and transformed both the visionary artist, and the deep faith of the man.