PROGRAM:
Series Theme: Wedded to the Creative Imagination from the beginning, Christianity has sometimes found the marriage troubled, and it has been more fruitful at some times than at others. By “creative imagination” is meant the use of images, stories, and literary themes to illustrate and even advance the Christian mind or world view in popular piety as well as high art. This lecture series concentrates on the unparalleled cultural effects that the historic Christian experience has fostered through the use of the creative imagination in art, architecture, music, and literature.

Michelangelo Rediscovered: The Cleaning of Michelangelo’s Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel

Date: October 11th
Time: 7:30 PM followed by a reception
Speaker: Dr. Walter Persegati, Retired Secretary/Treasurer of Vatican Monuments, Museums, and Art Galleries
Topic: MICHELANGELO REDISCOVERED: The Cleaning of Michelangelo’s Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel

Dr. Walter Persegati was born in Verona, Italy, the town so dear to Shakespeare. For this reason he often likes to be introduced as one of The Two Gentlemen of Verona.   Because of his involvement in reorganizing the Vatican Museums and in the Sistine Chapel project, it is hard to believe that his background is not art but business administration. He is a person of many interests who has always shown organizational skills. Forinstance, he was responsible for organizing and bringing to the United States the exhibition The Vatican Collections: Papacy and Art which came to New York, Chicago and San Francisco. He has been the co-founder of the International Federation of Catholic Youth Organizations; he was active in the resettlement of European Refugees in Chicago from 1955 to 1958 and was involved in migration activities, social assistance and public relations for church oriented concerns.   As Assistant Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F.A.O.) he had a chance to broaden his interests in the international field, particularly in the fight against hunger in the world. He was active in the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He helped securing and managing the financing of a large social-religious survey in Latin America that resulted in the publishing of 14 volumes.   For 19 years (from 1971 to 1990) he covered the demanding role of Secretary General and Treasurer of the Vatican Monuments, Museums and Art Galleries, and for 9 of those years he was involved in the Sistine Chapel project (the cleaning of Michelangelo’s frescoes). He was faced with the challenge of helping three million visitors a year in making a selective, intelligent and as comfortable a visit as possible to the Museums.   For his life achievements he received a Doctorate in Law honoris causa from the Trinity College, Hartford, CT, and for his involvement in fostering the cooperative movement, Dr. Persegati also received an honorary doctorate degree at the Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia.   Synopsis of Lecture: The fourteen year cleaning project of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel has been hailed as the conservation accomplishment of the century. he painstaking, delicate work by the Vatican Conservation Laboratory had started in 1980 with the cleaning of the Ceiling and was completed in1994 with the unveiling of the Last Judgment. he Last Judgment’s 400 figures have returned to life after lying for centuries under a blanket of soot. They have emerged from deep darkness. Color has returned to tunics and veils giving the huge fresco unsuspected flashes of light. rime, dirt, lampblack and glues were hiding Michelangelo’s frescoes for centuries. A myth about the artist’s unfamiliarity with colors or/and his voluntary veiling his frescoes in darkness was thus born. hile as a sculptor he had reached us in all his original power, as a painter he was betrayed by the grime of centuries and by the good intentioned restorers of the past. The cleaning has given Michelangelo, the colorist, justice at last.   Dr. Walter Persegati will illustrate the cleaning process and the stunning results with exclusive slides many of which were taken by the restorers themselves directly on the scaffolding during the actual cleaning activities. His presentation will cover the following points and others: What prompted the Vatican Museums to start the cleaning? Research done before any decision was made What the grime was made of Michelangelo’s technique How Michelangelo’s a secco corrections detected during cleaning and protected? Was there a danger that the present cleaning would damage Michelangelo’s fresco? How was the cleaning done? The discoveries of the cleaning Michelangelo’s different artistic personality from the Ceiling and the Last Judgment Why are the colors so brilliant? Was anything done to brighten them up? Is it true that Michelangelo himself frescoed some of the veils covering the private parts of many naked figures? What was done with the loin clothes painted by restorers in the past? Why was the cleaning technique on the Last Judgment so different from the Ceiling? If the cleaning was done entirely by the Vatican Conservation Laboratory what was the Japanese involvement in the project? The slides will tell the story of how things were done and will show unique cross-sections of tiny color specks of fresco and breathtaking examples of before/after. The spiritual and religious significance of the Sistine Chapel frescoes, and of the Last Judgment in particular, will be emphasized throughout the entire lecture.