I was 33 years old. Like Christ. And a hammer. Like Michelangelo. Although he was a geologist and not a sculptor. Although he had a mental illness that clouded his understanding. "I am Jesus Christ, risen from the dead" he shouted. And with a firm hand he dealt up to fifteen blows to the Vatican Pietà. The Virgin wept fifty pieces of Carrara marble that spilled on the cold floor of the Basilica of San Pedro.
Half a century ago today, László Tóth went down in history as the man who destroyed one of the most perfect works of art of the Renaissance, sculpted by il Divino when he was just 24 years old. Hundreds of believers awaited the blessing of Pope Paul VI. Toth, no. He just wanted to make it clear that he was Jesus Christ. And, to the astonishment of the large audience, he went straight against the sculptures by Michelangelo. By chance, during the wedding trip, the American sculptor Bob Cassilly was next to the Piedad, who was one of the first to placate the aggressor and prevent his geologist's hammer from continuing to hit the virginal marble.
Tóth was not even denounced. He was admitted to an Italian psychiatric hospital for two years and then was deported to Australia, where he lived and died without further pain or glory. And she, the Virgin, had to undergo severe cosmetic surgery to reconstruct her nose, left arm and eyelids. As many pieces as possible were collected (in some cases the fragments were reduced to dust and others flew as 'souvenirs' from tourists present at the lurid performance).
The Vatican weighed the possibility of leaving the Pietà with its stab wounds, but finally it was decided to restore it. For this, a copy of the work carried out was vital, for security, when the start of World War II was closely watched.
A plaster copy of this tracing, known as Mercatali after the expert who executed it, is on display until August 2 at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence next to the Bandini Pietà, which, curiously, Michelangelo began to sculpt 50 years after the first.
At over seventy years old, he self-portraited in the sculpture group that he himself thought would end up adorning his own tomb. Another piety victim of hammer blows, but from the artist himself. For a long time it was believed that dissatisfied with the result, he not only abandoned the project but wanted to destroy it. After a recent restoration, a new theory has emerged: Michelangelo left the work aside due to the appearance of impurities in the marble.
The Divine's life was even longer and he still had time to sculpt a third piety, the Rondanini, also present in a copy in this exhibition that brings together the three pieties for the first time. The Florentine genius was almost 90 years old and also left it unfinished, but not because of the material or because of stylistic problems, but because of a visit from death that he no longer wanted to give him any more time.
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