Henry Moore: Sculptural Process and Public Identity

Moore sent this postcard of the Rondanini Pietà produced by Michelangelo in the last years of his life to Sir Kenneth and Lady Clark from Rome. For Moore this late work was ‘very interesting as showing something which had been finished and then taken up again and top half completely altered – It’s a most moving and tender work’. As a student Moore had actively avoided the work of Michelangelo but later was open in his admiration of the Italian master. It is possible that Moore was partly led to engage with the arts of the Italian Renaissance through the influence of Clark, who had published books on Leonardo da Vinci in 1939 and Piero della Francesca in 1951.