Michelangelo Sistine Chapel fresco reproductions coming to Columbus

On Dec 19, 2021

Even those lucky enough to visit the Sistine Chapel in Rome aren’t likely able to get the best view of Michelangelo’s famous frescos: the creation of Adam and other tales from Genesis and the Bible, and the spectacular “Last Judgement.” The paintings are on the vaulted ceiling at a height of 72 feet — and with more than 5 million people visiting the chapel each year, the room is crowded with tourists.

Now a touring exhibition of reproductions of the frescos, “Michelangelo — A Different View,” is making the rounds, including a stop beginning Dec. 22 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Licensed by the Vatican Museums in Rome, the exhibit includes more than 50 large reproductions of the frescos that are presented not on a ceiling but on the ground where visitors can walk around them.

“Visitors have the opportunity to experience more details of the art without crowds,” said Leslie Nutter, sales and marketing coordinator of the Greater Columbus Convention Center. But, she added, “nothing beats the history of Michelangelo’s frescos when visiting in person in Italy.”

The Italian sculptor and painter Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (known simply as Michelangelo) was born in the republic of Florence in 1475. At the commission of Pope Julius II, he created the frescos in the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512. Most likely, he did not paint while lying on his back, as one biographer speculated, but he did paint upon scaffolding, probably in discomfort while standing with his head tilted back.

The Sistine Chapel, considered the most visited room in the world, underwent a restoration between 1982 and 1994, after which a Japanese team filmed the chapel. Photo slides were made of the frescos in a 200-by-250mm format for the Vatican Museums. A series of photo slides were made available to the German company Exhibition 4 You, producers of “Michelangelo — A Different View.” The slides were reproduced and transferred to fabric webs.

“Michelangelo — A Different View” began touring in Cologne, Germany, in 2016 and has gone on display throughout Europe, Australia and the United States. The exhibit can be shown in different cities at the same time and will be on view in Auckland, New Zealand, at the same time it is in Columbus.

At the entrance of the exhibition are reproductions of the “Quattrocento” frescos, scenes from the lives of Jesus and Moses painted in the 15th century by Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli — paintings that Michelangelo would have passed on his way to paint his frescos.