Author Ken Gire (“Windows of the Soul”) has used multiple photos of Michelangelo’s famed sculpture, Pieta’, and formed a study guide of seven chapters. The photos are by photographer Robert Hupka and done of the Pieta’ during the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City. Photos used in this book are of the statue from a distance, a side view, close frontal view and other aspects to begin discussion in the chapters that include “The Image of Christ,” “The Wounds of Christ” and The Mother of Christ.”

 

Gire delves into Michelangelo’s life and how this famous statue came into being, the choice of marble and how marble is cleaved from a hillside. This statue was a commission by a French Cardinal and completed in just over a year in 1499. Michelangelo promised the Cardinal that the work would be “unsurpassed,” and as the author mentions, for a 23-year-old, the pressure was on. You know what happens. The statue IS unsurpassed. In mathematical terms, if Mary stood up, she would be seven feet tall, but sitting down and cradling Jesus, she is proportionate to him. The figures are life-like. Michelangelo said of one of his other statues, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

 

In each chapter in “Shaped By The Cross,“ there is a Biblical reference, exploration of the text and a photograph of a part of the statue, (hands, Christ’s face, Mary’s face, wounds), a prayer and then discussion points. What is interesting is that the Biblical reference is explained like a sermonette which weaves parts of “Narnia,” 9/11, Brendan’s Fraser’s film “With Honors” or the attempted destruction of the Pieta’ by a disturbed individual. This reviewer hoped that there would be more chapters, as just seven leaves you wanting more. “Shaped By The Cross“ would be useful for individual meditation or for a week-long, or seven-week long study of Michelangelo’s sculpture. Even seen in photographs, the Pieta’ seems to have life.

 

Reviewed by Marie Asner, Copyright 2012



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