The Rondanini Pietà is a marble sculpture that Michelangelo worked on from 1552 until the last days of his life, in 1564. Several sources indicate that there were actually three versions, with this one being the last.The name Rondanini refers to the fact that the sculpture stood for centuries in the courtyard at the Palazzo Rondanini in Rome.Certain sources point out that biographer Giorgio Vasari had referred to this Pietà in 1550, suggesting that the first version may already have been underway at that time.The work is currently housed in the Museum of Rondanini Pietà of Sforza Castle in Milan.
This final sculpture revisited the theme of the Virgin Mary mourning over the emaciated body of the dead Christ, which he had first explored in his Pietà of 1499
