Michelangelo's Pietàs: A Semantic Analysis

University Ss, 48 men and 48 women, rendered judgments of Michelangelo's Pietàs. The instrument used was a 40-scale form of the semantic differential. Alpha factoring, based on the mean ratings for all Ss, and varimax rotation was performed for scales as variables. Seven factors emerged, in order: form, receptiveness, activity, affectivity, potency, reality and spirituality. Ss judged the earliest work to be structurally the most elegant, to incorporate the greatest receptiveness, to be most transcendent, most spiritual, and to be least active. They judged the last to be least elegant, to incorporate the least strength, the least receptiveness, to be least tragic, and least spiritual.