Variation and Pieta

These two images come from BAGnewsNotes -- a blog with the subtitle Where The Analysis Of News Photos Is A New Art. If this particular juxtaposition is anything to judge by, the site may deserve its subtitle.

The upper image is that of of a woman protesting the Terri Schiavo issue: she is carrying a poster of the (supposed) face of Christ from the Shroud of Turin.

BAGnews comments:

the first person I showed this photo to said, without blinking an eye: "Oh, it's the Pieta."

So, I don't know. Is the woman in the photo just Mary Syversen from Front Royal, Virginia, keeping a private vigil outside the Supreme Court, or is it a political actress mindful of the visual weight of Michelangelo's youthful Mary in mourning? Or is it just Mary Syversen carrying a unique protest prop and captured in the rain by a quick and literate photographer? (And, does it really matter which?)

The lower image is indeed that of Michaelangelo's breathtakingly beautiful sculpture of the Pieta in St Peter's, now only visible (alas) behind bullet-proof glass...