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

WP3: Statement of Purpose

In learning how to analyze art, you have to start simple. So far in English 151H we have built our way up to not just analyzing a flat canvas rhetorically, but a three dimensional object: sculptures. While sculptures can display some of the same technical elements and ideas as paintings and photographs, they display them in a whole new way. Three dimensions expand this analysis beyond a canvas and bring the art to life.

My sculpture of choice is Pieta by Bruno Lucchesi. This piece was built in nineteen-seventy and consists of a young girl draped over the bed of her elderly, dying loved one. My sculpture, Pieta, shares a name with another piece that served as its inspiration: the original Pieta by Michelangelo (below this paragraph). There are some major differences between these pieces such as subject context and how the sculpture expressed the “pieta” or sorrow. I plan on addressing some of these differences and similarities within my analysis.



My analysis of this piece is going to much different than my past ones. Instead of presenting an essay form analysis of the rhetorical elements of my piece, I will be addressing my sculpture in a letter form. While this letter is directly to my sculpture, I will want to include details that can help my audience (discussed later) follow my analysis. In my letter I plan to center my rhetorical analysis on the name: Pieta. Sorrow is a big aspect of this piece and pathos is developed from the audience by just simply looking at it. Along with talking about the simple and obvious pathos that is developed by this piece, I will also take this thought a little further and talk about the sympathy that can be developed from viewers that can relate personally with this very intimate setting.

Rhetorical elements are very important in my analysis. This includes, but is not limited to, what the sculpture is made of and the way the material is manipulated. While material is very important, the environment in which this piece is positioned is also important. The artist chose this material for a reason. He knew how this material would be effected in the environment it is placed and how it could be viewed when it was placed in the garden as well as forty years later.
While analyzing this argument, it is also important that I keep in mind my audience. Primarily, my audience will be my fellow peers and my professor. They will be able to see my performance and will know what is expected and asked of me. This audience is my most critical.

As mentioned in CDA p.40, context of audience is just as important as whom the audience is Along with my peers and professor, anyone that happens to be walking by the Sheldon will be able to view my presentation and hear my analysis. My secondary audience consists of these bystanders, as well as anyone that reads my blog online. My letter will be posted here and available to anyone who finds it. This makes my audience very broad. Therefore, I should keep my analysis on a level that would be acceptable to a variety of people reading it.

Overall, I hope to convey this message of Pieta in such a way that it not only reveals the aspects of my analysis, but brings meaning to this sculpture.