The Cristo della Minerva, also known as Christ the Redeemer or Christ Carrying the Cross, is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti, finished in 1521. The work is in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in Rome, to left to the main altar. By Region: Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance -French Renaissance -German Renaissance -English Renaissance The Renaissance was a great cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... Michelangelo (full name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) (March 6, 1475 - February 18, 1564) was a Renaissance sculptor, architect, painter, and poet. ... Events January 3 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem. ... Facade of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC (mythical), early 1st millennium BC (archaeological) Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ...

Commissioned in 1514, Michelangelo was working on a first version of this statue around 1515, abandoned when he discovered to a black vein in the white marble (though this may have been a convenient excuse). A new version was hurriedly substituted in 1519-1520 to fulfil the terms of the contract. Michelangelo worked on it in Florence and the final touches were entrusted to an apprentice, Pietro Urbano: the latter, however, damaged the work and had to be quickly replaced by Federico Frizzi after a suggestion from Sebastiano del Piombo. Founded 59 BC as Florentia Region Tuscany Mayor Leonardo Domenici (Democratici di Sinistra) Area  - City Proper  102 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 356,000 almost 500,000 3,453/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Latitude Longitude 43°47 N 11°15 E www. ... Sebastiano del Piombo (1485 – June 21, 1547), Italian painter, was born at Venice. ...

Despite all these problems, the work impressed the contemporaries. Sebastiano del Piombo declared that the knees alone were worthy of more than the whole Rome.

Christ is shown by Michelangelo unclothed in a standing pose. During the Baroque period a girdle was added. A leg is flexed and the head turned back, according to the principle of contrapposto. He is clasping the cross and the instruments of his martyrdom as if they were his most precious things, expressing in this his voluntary decision to be executed. Baroque art is the painting and sculpture associated with the Baroque cultural movement, a movement often identified with Absolutism and the Counter Reformation; the existence of important Baroque art and architecture in non-absolutist and Protestant states, however, undercuts this linking. ... Contrapposto is an Italian word for counterpoise referring to an analytical sculptural technique in which the artist illustrates the natural counterbalance of the body through the bending of the hips in one direction and the legs in another direction. ...

Another spurious element is the footwear added to the right foot, in order to protect it from wear, as it was frequently kissed by the devout.