The awe-inspiring reproduction is a digital photograph of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling printed on fabric and displayed in an illuminated plexiglass frame. Photo by Argenis Apolinario
Fordham U gifted Met’s Sistine Chapel fresco replica
BY ROBERT WIRSING
You don’t need to travel to
Vatican City to view Michelangelo’s
frescoes.
In November, Fordham
University was gifted the
Metropolitan Museum of
Art’s reproduction of the
Sistine Chapel ceiling fresco
from their ‘Michelangelo:
Divine Draftsman and Designer’
exhibition.
The digital reproduction
of Il Divino’s High Renaissance
era masterpiece currently
resides inside Duane
Library’s Butler Commons
at the university’s Rose Hill
Campus.
According to Maria Ruvoldt,
Fordham University
Art History associate professor
and chairwoman, the
quarter-scale reproduction
is displayed on a flat surface
in contrast to the original
which embraced a curved
(barrel vault) surface.
She added that the reproduction
is a digital photograph
of the Sistine Chapel’s
iconic ceiling printed on fabric
and displayed in an illuminated
plexiglass frame.
Vincent Burke, Fordham
University Capital Programs
and Planning director, said
the replica measures approximately
16’ 4” wide and
41’ long.
Painted between 1508 to
1512, the fresco residing in
the Sistine Chapel measures
approximately 131 feet long
by 43 feet wide.
The reproduction was pro-
duced for the Met’s ‘Michelangelo:
Divine Draftsman
and Designer’ exhibit which
ran from November 13, 2017
to February, 12, 2018.
It was created in house by
the Met’s exhibition design
department.
“The Creation of Adam is
perhaps one of the most recognizable
images in the history
of art often reduced to
the interaction of the hands
of God and Adam, this is
only a fraction of the complex
decoration,” explained
Ruvoldt.
Like the original, its
replica depicts several stories
from the Book of Genesis
from the separation of
light and dark to the story
of Noah, images of the Old
Testament prophets and the
ancient world’s sibyls, the
ancestors of Christ and four
narrative scenes from the
Old Testament including
Judith and Holofernes, David
and Goliath, the Punishment
of Haman and the Brazen
Serpent.
The acquisition of the
piece began when Fr. Joseph
McShane, Fordham University
president, was touring
the exhibit and he remarked,
“What I wouldn’t do to get
this to Fordham!”
To his and Fordham’s
luck, Erin Pick, the Met’s
then senior administrator,
said the institution would
look into his request since
once the show ended, the Met
would dispose of the piece.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, D 14 ECEMBER 14-20, 2018 BTR
The university was informed
a few weeks later
that the Met approved its
proposal.
Fordham University was
only required to cover the
cost of its removal and transportation.
McShane said the fresco’s
installation was completed
in ten days and it has since
been met with great enthusiasm
by faculty.
He said the university
will introduce students to
the breathtaking fresco during
a prestigious ribbon-cutting
ceremony slated for late
January.
“When you’re at the Sistine
Chapel, they rush you
to see the fresco, but here
at the university you can
spend time appreciating every
detail of it,” expressed
McShane.
The larger-than-life gift
is the latest collaboration between
the two institutions.
In 2017, Fordham lent the
Met Cristóbal de Villalpando’s
‘Adoration of the Magi’
which the museum restored
and included in its July exhibition,
‘Cristóbal de Villalpando:
Mexican Painter of
the Baroque.’
(Right) The Sistine Chapel fresco
replica serves as the centerpiece
for the university’s art history
classes. Photo by Argenis Apolinario