WP3: Rough Draft

Dear Sorrow One,

Have I come too late? His head nods down with eyes closed, his chest motionless. At the touch of his fragile hand a chill as cold as death can be felt. Looking upon these cold, colorless hands I can see his veins. He must have been quite sick.

And look at you: draped across his legs with your head in your arms. Do not lay there and be sorrow. Look at how peaceful he looks there: His arms lay gently next to him, his eyes closed, and a slight smile on his face. There was no struggle. He no longer can feel the pain, the sickness that he has been enduring.

But it is obvious that you are in pain. The sculpture that which you are stands as a memory of this moment: the pieta and pain felt in this situation. You are made of bronze: a strong metal that can withstand much weathering. The everlasting presence of this bronze is like the memory in your mind. While the bronze may oxidize and leave marks from its experience with the weather, it will still stand. Similarly, while your memory of your loved one may slightly fade away as you grow old, you will never forget this moment: the last few breaths of someone that meant the world to you.

It is interesting to note how you were constructed. You are not made of solid bronze, and instead a plaster with bronze poured over. It is if a mold was placed over the exact moment you experienced and then preserved with bronze. It is interesting how you were molded and how you respond to the environment around you. On one of my past visits with you after a rainstorm it was shown how the pitch in slope of the bed helps develop ideas within those who view you. The rain had trickled down the bed and formed a puddle around your head. It was like the puddle of tears that may have existed in the real moment.




Sorrow one; I feel odd for intruding on such a personal moment. From the sidewalk not much of you can be seen, for you are surrounded by large bushes. These bushes develop an intimate feel to the environment in which I look upon you. No other sculptures or other people can be seen. You and your loved one on this bed is the only focal point.

Obvious pathos, mentioned in CDA, is developed from looking upon you. The realistic nature of you and your loved one puts this sculpture in terms I can relate to. It’s almost like I’m sitting there with you in reality. The way your body is positioned in deep sorrow is very obviously shown and sparks pathos within me. I can relate to the body language shown and can think of moments in which I have felt what you are feeling. I have gone through the loss of a loved one as well. Sympathy is developed in me while looking at you. I think of my Grandfather lying on the bed with his head down and eyes closed and how devastated I was. I put myself in your exact place.



Pieta, you are modeled after another sculpture that shares your name by Michelangelo. This sculpture consists of Mother Mary with the crucified Jesus draped across her lap. There are some similarities that exist between you and this sculpture, as well as obvious differences. One of the main differences between you and Michelangelo’s Pieta is the roles of the subjects. In Michelangelo’s piece the younger subject is deceased and the older subject feels the sorrow. There is a reversal of roles when it comes to you. You are draped across the bed in a similar fashion of Jesus in Michelangelo’s piece, but instead of being deceased are in great sorrow. When thinking about why Bruno Lucchesi, the one who made you, would reverse these roles it made me think of how universal and everlasting sorrow and death can be. It does not matter what culture, what religion, or what role the deceased one is in when it comes to the sorrow that can be felt when losing a loved one. Emotions can be very universal and felt by anyone, everywhere. Pieta, or sorrow, has been felt by every individual on this planet from the times when Jesus walked the earth, to the 1970s when you were created, to forty years later as I stand here. Death is also universal. While there may be different views and ideas on what happens after death, everyone here on this earth is mortal and will one day endure death through their own death or the death of a loved one. This is what makes you such a universal sculpture: one that will carry the same message and idea for as long as you stand.

Pieta, I feel a deep emotional connection when I look at you. You carry such a touching story and universal message that anyone can relate to.

With sympathy,
Amberley Proctor