Michelangelo Buonarroti or simply Michelangelo was an extraordinary sculptor, one of the greatest of all time. Michelangelo’s greatness lies in his unparalleled mastery of the human form, his technical daring across different mediums, from sculpture to painting to architecture, and his uncanny ability to imbue hard stone and dry plaster with profound emotional and spiritual intensity. Three of Michelangelo’s most renowned sculpture masterpieces are the Pietà, David, and Moses. Take a glance at these works and feel the greatness of the man his peers call II Divino (“The Divine One”).

Completed around the early 1500s, David is undoubtedly Michelangelo’s best-known sculpture: a monumental 5.17-meter statue depicting the Biblical boy hero David before his battle with Goliath. Instead of showing a triumphant David after the fight, Michelangelo crafted him in a tense, watchful state, imbuing the boy with an anatomy that reflects the artist’s deep understanding of the human body.

Pietà

Pietà is a breathtaking marble sculpture depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the lifeless body of Jesus after the crucifixion. The work is celebrated for its incredibly realistic details, such as the lifelike draping of Mary’s clothes, the limp body of Christ that so powerfully portrays his suffering, and its serene message of devotion. Remarkably, Michelangelo was only in his early twenties when he sculpted it.

Moses

Michelangelo’s statute of the prophet Moses was originally intended to be part of a massive tomb for Pope Julius II. The sculpture stands over 8 feet tall and captures intense psychological and physical tension, accentuated by Moses’s taut muscles, throbbing veins, and powerful gaze, once again affirming Michelangelo’s genius for turning stone into sculptures of dynamic, controlled energy.