Marquette's Haggerty Museum to loan Pieta to Italian Community Center

Bronze copy of 15th century Michelangelo masterpiece on public display for five years

The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University will loan its copy of Michelangelo’s bronze Pieta from its permanent collection to the Italian Community Center. The sculpture will be on public display in the Ignazio and Maria Crivello Galleria at the ICC for the next five years.

This well-known piece from the Haggerty collection is derived from the renowned marble Pieta created by Michelangelo in 1498. The Haggerty version was cast in 1945 from plaster molds taken from the original sculpture. The Haggerty Pieta is one of a planned edition of nine sculptures cast by the Marinelli Foundry in Florence, Italy.  To date, six of the nine works have been completed.

The Haggerty Pieta was brought to the United States in 1964 for use in a Boston Store display celebrating the art and culture of Italy. The piece was incorporated into the Marquette University collection in 1982, first as an extended loan from the Milwaukee Art Center and later as a permanent gift.  In 1984, the sculpture appeared in a Younkers Department Store display in Omaha, Neb., and in 1991 it was exhibited at the ICC in Milwaukee. During Milwaukee’s Festa Italiana celebration in summer 2008, the Pieta was featured in the Pompeii Art Exhibit.

The ICC will hold a dedication ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 15, with a 2:30 p.m. Mass in Festa Hall, celebrated by Rev. Timothy Kitzke, ICC chaplain and pastor of Three Holy Women Parish and Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church. A dedication in the ICC galleria will be followed by dinner in the Pompeii Grand Ballroom. The cost for the dinner is $19.95 for ICC members and $24.95 for non-members. Reservations can be made by contacting the ICC, located at 631 E. Chicago St. in Milwaukee’s Third Ward, at (414) 223-2194.

Media interested in interviewing Wally Mason, director of the Haggerty Museum, should contact Christopher Stolarski in the Office of Marketing and Communication at (414) 288-1988 or christopher.stolarski@marquette.edu.

EDITOR’S NOTE: High resolution digital images of the Haggerty Pieta are available, upon request.