Old stone repair?

[Tomas Lipps <tmlipps@zzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

sorry Craig, I don't believe you're doing justice to one of the most
poignant of stories.
as I understand it, the Pieta you describe was Michelangelo's last
work and he was struggling to complete it before he died.  that's the
reason it is crudely done, not because it was carved by others less
talented.

the touching thing is that, at the last, he was inspired to make a
major revision.  his own death imminent, he transposed the body of
Christ into the embrace of Mary, in his haste to do so not even
bothering to remove the arm he had detached from the body to
accomplish that.  the amputated stone arm still stands as mute
witness to this desperate act of reunion.   I hope I'm not wrong
about that as it's a story I've always cherished.