Jago’s Pietà, depicting a father mourning his son, at the Jago Museum in Naples

Jago’s “Pietà”

Sculpture – Marble (150 x 140 x 80 cm) 2021

Jago, Pietà, the Jago Museum in Naples, Italy

Jago, Pietà As a child, Jago had the opportunity to admire the works of Michelangelo, including the famous Pietà, located in the Basilica of St Peter in Rome.

Jago created his own Pietà, inspired by Michelangelo, a deeply moving work that expresses all the pain of a father or mother who has lost their child.

In place of the Virgin holding her son’s lifeless body in her arms, Jago has depicted a father holding his son’s corpse.

A father whose face is contorted with pain and despair, expressing distress and grief with such authenticity that one’s heart aches at the sight of him carrying the lifeless body of his teenage son.

Jago, Pietà This father’s tears and cry of despair make a world of difference compared to Michelangelo’s Pietà.

Michelangelo’s Pietà is a religious work, which explains the apparent serenity of the Virgin, closely linked to her divine status.

Jago’s Pietà expresses the helplessness and despair of a grief-stricken father confronted with the absurdity of the death of a loved one, particularly a young and innocent person.

Jago, Pietà This father is also a self-portrait of Jago, who had no other model to work from whilst creating this piece during the Covid lockdown.

The tragedies of cruelty and violence around the world, and indifference to the suffering of others are the underlying themes of many of Jago’s works.

The fact that he depicted himself in the form of this grieving and rebellious father therefore goes far beyond the mere fact that he was unable to use a model to create his Pietà.

The tragedy of a child’s death

This superb and moving sculpture by Jago depicts a father who holds in his strong arms the androgynous body of his dead son, a slender teenager with long hair and the face of a young girl.

Jago, Pietà This androgynous figure represents the whole of humanity and symbolises the children across the world who are dying in wars and as a result of forced migration, due to the appetite for power and wealth of those who regard people as pawns, as mere means to an end.

This child lying in his father’s arms, his arms and legs hanging limply, has nevertheless left us a message of hope in the form of a pebble that has fallen from his open right hand.

A small pebble that he was holding just before he died, like the Veiled Son, just like Cassandra.

A small pebble that was his final cry before he died, his final message to convey the horror of his death.

The works Narcissus | Ajax Cassandra | Veiled Son | Pietà | Self-portrait | Venus | From Foetus to Ego
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