Before his death in 1564, Michelangelo Buonarotti destroyed most of the preliminary sketches he had made for the frescoes he painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. Only 50 drawings are known to remain. Nearly half of those – including seven never on display in the U.S. before now – comprise “The Genesis of the Sistine,” an extraordinary exhibition which opens at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts on March 6.

“We look forward to inviting our community to experience this unique — and perhaps once-in-a-lifetime — opportunity to examine these rare Michelangelo works together outside of Italy,” said David Brashear HON ’07, the Muscarelle’s director.

The exhibition, which runs through May 28, opens on the 550th anniversary of the artist’s birth in Florence, Italy. The groundbreaking exhibition is among the first presented in the expanded Muscarelle, which reopened in February after nearly two years of construction.

Michelangelo scholar leads the way

Curated by Adriano Marinazzo, a Michelangelo expert and the Muscarelle’s special projects curator, the exhibition offers a glimpse into the process by which Michelangelo created one of history’s most enduring masterpieces. Putting the exhibition together required Marinazzo to coordinate with the Italian government and multiple Italian museums, including the Gallerie degli Uffizi, the Musei Reali and Casa Buonarroti.

Noting the fragility of the 500-year-old Renaissance drawings, Brashear said the sketches that will be on display spend most of their time locked in dark boxes and are only made available for about 12 weeks every five years. Even handled with the utmost care, “works on paper are subject to damage from light,” he said.

Michelangelo began work on the chapel frescoes in 1508 at the insistence of Pope Julius II. Already renowned for the Pieta – his marble rendering of Mary cradling her dying son – and his colossal rendering of the biblical figure David, Michelangelo only reluctantly agreed to paint the chapel’s ceiling, steadfast in his belief that he was a sculptor, not a painter.

The ceiling paintings took four years during which Michelangelo created hundreds of preparatory drawings. The sketches, Marinazzo said, “offer an unprecedented glimpse into the mind of one of the most famous artists in the world, revealing the unfiltered thoughts, ideas, struggles and breakthroughs that shaped one of history’s greatest masterpieces.”

The exhibition will echo the experience of visiting the chapel, with gallery walls painted a cerulean shade of blue and gold accents positioned throughout. Lighting will be subdued to preserve the drawings and “to enhance the sense of stepping into Michelangelo’s private artistic space,” said Marinazzo. Life-size reproductions of the Sistine Chapel frescoes, including the iconic “Creation of Adam,” will allow visitors to appreciate the monumental scale of Michelangelo’s masterpieces.

One of the sketches will have its worldwide premiere: a rediscovered drawing believed to be Michelangelo’s earliest surviving study for the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Another unique object is Giuliano Bugiardini’s portrait of Michelangelo, on public display in the United States for the first time, and two of Michelangelo’s sketches depicting himself painting the ceiling, which offer insight into his artistic process.

Marinazzo said his intent is to highlight Michelangelo’s brilliance, “presenting him as an artist who confronted and transcended challenges to create something extraordinary.” The exhibition also features “This is Not My Art,” a 3D video installation by Marinazzo, which recreates the ceiling’s painted architectural structure.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated, 244-page full-color catalog, authored by Marinazzo. The Vatican Museums provided original images of the Sistine Chapel for the publication.

How to see it

To ensure the best experience possible for visitors, a timed-entry ticketing process will limit the number of people in the galleries at any one time. Admission is free for visitors under age 18, Muscarelle members and William & Mary community members (students, faculty and staff.) Tickets for the general public (18+) are $15 and are now available for purchase.

Docent-led tours of Michelangelo will be offered at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tours will last approximately 20 minutes. People interested in a docent-led tour should choose one of those ticket times. Tours for groups are available upon request.

The museum has also created a full slate of programming designed to accompany the exhibition:

Curator’s Opening Lecture
March 18 at 5 p.m.
Marinazzo will introduce “Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine,” sharing new insights from his extensive research. The talk will explore generative elements of the grand fresco and highlight the significance of Michelangelo’s preparatory drawings in the ideation of his masterpiece.

Film screening: “The Agony and the Ecstasy”
March 20 at 2 p.m.
In collaboration with the Ampersand International Arts Festival, see the 1965 classic at Williamsburg’s historic Kimball Theatre. Starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison, the film recounts the biographical story of Michelangelo’s troubles while painting the Sistine Chapel at the urging of Pope Julius II.

Virtual Book Talk with Author Ross King
March 30 at 2 p.m.
Brashear will join New York Times-bestselling author Ross King for a conversation about his book “Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling.”

“Michelangelo & Titian: A Tale of Titans” with William E. Wallace
April 8 at 5 p.m.
Wallace, an internationally recognized authority on Michelangelo, will introduce scholarship from his upcoming book about the 40-year rivalry between Michelangelo and Titian. Wallace authored eight books on Michelangelo and is the chair of art history and archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis.

“Michelangelo: The Tomb and the Vault” with Adriano Marinazzo
April 28 at 5 p.m.
Explore connections between Michelangelo’s original project for the Tomb of Pope Julius II and his Sistine ceiling paintings, featuring 3D reconstructions of the unbuilt mausoleum. Marinazzo will lead the discussion.

For more information, visit muscarelle.wm.edu