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• Pietà
  Pietà

  noun

  a representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the body of the dead Christ, usually shown held on her lap.
• pietà
  pietà

  noun

  a sculpture, painting, or drawing of the dead Christ, supported by the Virgin Mary

Pietà

American  

[pee-ay-tah, pyay-tah, pee-ay-tuh, pyay-] / ˌpi eɪˈtɑ, pjeɪˈtɑ, piˈeɪ tə, ˈpjeɪ- /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. a representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the body of the dead Christ, usually shown held on her lap.

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pietà British  

/ pɪɛˈtɑː /

noun

1. a sculpture, painting, or drawing of the dead Christ, supported by the Virgin Mary

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Pietà Cultural  

1. A painting, drawing, or sculpture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, holding the dead body of Jesus. The word means “pity” in Italian.

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Discover More

The most famous of four Pietàs by Michelangelo is a sculpture at Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

Etymology

Origin of Pietà

1635–45; < Italian: literally, pity < Latin pietās piety; cf. pity

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Pietà pietà

It reported that the Madonna and Christ in Pietà was removed directly from inside a secure display case, while all the paintings taken were on wooden panels, preventing them from easily being rolled up.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

The most elucidating superimposes a Pietà by Anne-Louis Girodet, David’s little-known pupil, over David’s “Marat.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025

Last year, the local alderman threatened to downzone the church property, reducing its value to developers, and its Pietà had to be moved from the church with a police escort.

From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2023

He said in an interview that the situation with the Mona Lisa had become reminiscent of the World’s Fair in New York in 1964 when overenthusiastic visitors viewed Michelangelo’s Pietà from a moving walkway.

From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2023

Below the portrait of the poet is an inscription of 1667, honouring the memory of Signorelli, and of Ippolito Scalza, the sculptor of the marble "Pietà."

From Luca Signorelli by Maud Cruttwell

For Taylor, this outrage from the newspapers becomes a pietà, driven by an intimacy based not on actual acquaintance but rather on personal identification.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 23, 2018

That makes the play’s closing pietà risible when it should be moving.

From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2011

Above the range of pigeon-holes and little drawers, forming the back of the writing-table, two candles burned on either side of a bronze pietà, which Julius had brought back with him from Rome.

From The History of Sir Richard Calmady A Romance by Lucas Malet

When Julius looked up, his eyes rested upon the bronze pietà, age-old witness to the sanctity of motherhood and of suffering alike.

From The History of Sir Richard Calmady A Romance by Lucas Malet

However, Leo X.'s bull, Inter multiplices, exempts the so-called monti di pietà, and by this means put obstacles in the way of saving, and promoted real usury.

From Principles of Political Economy, Vol. II by Wilhelm Roscher

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