| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
__ THE ARTS ______________________________
“The Angels… Came out of the Clouds”
Private donors, most of them American, have financed the restoration of Vatican art treasures
By Sabrina Arena Ferrisi
Up until a few centuries ago, you had to be a member of the European nobility in order to finance serious religious art. Names such as Medici, Borghese, and Corsini were linked in a select grouping of patrons, and it was the members of these families who determined which artists flourished and which ones vanished into the folds of history. Today, on the other hand, the vast majority of patrons of the Vatican museums—which house the greatest concentration of religious art in the world—are Americans, with neither a family crest nor an aristocratic title. Times have definitely changed, and the Vatican museums have had no problems in adjusting to modernity.
In 1995 the Patrons of the Arts office in the Vatican museums officially opened shop. The goal of the new office was to raise money for restoration projects, and the primary targets for the fundraising effort were American donors. Since its inception, the new office has raised somewhere between 7 and 8 million dollars. Since the Vatican museums receive no support from either the Holy See or the Italian government, the monies raised by the Patrons of the Arts office have provided a welcome relief.
According to Father Allen Duston, International Director for the Patrons of the Arts office, a great deal of the project’s success is due to the “generous nature” of Americans. He allows that natural generosity is further stimulated by the fact that Americans can deduct charitable contributions from their taxes —”something which is not true in most countries.”
“Americans have a long tradition of philanthropy,” says Father Duston. He explains that this tradition is connected to the American commitment to volunteer efforts and individual initiatives. “Religious activity was never supported by the state,” he points out. “So it always had to be a private initiative—giving to schools, buildings, and art. This filtered to other areas, like religious museums and libraries.”
American donors currently comprise 90 percent of the worldwide membership—nearly 1,100 out of 1,200—of the Patrons of the Arts for the Vatican museums. A scattering of individual patrons exist in Germany, and a new chapter of the Patrons is slated for inauguration in Rome in May. But in the US there are already chapters in 11 different states, with membership embracing individuals, families, trusts, and foundations. The minimum donation for a Patron is $500 per year for an individual, and $1,000 per year for a family. In an average year, the Patrons office has been able to raise over $1 million.
New splendor for the Sistine Chapel
Father Duston, a Dominican priest from California, was tapped for his current job while serving as president of the Dominican school of theology at Berkeley, a position he had held for seven years. Alongside a degree in theology Father Duston also holds a Masters in art history. This dual background comes in handy when he embarks on fundraising tours of the United States, because he is frequently asked questions about both fields. His presentation includes a beautiful slide show of before-and-after shots, showing the final results of restoration. But many potential donors also want to know about the religious themes of the art.
The recent restoration of the lateral walls of the Sistine Chapel is, by far, the project of which the Patrons are most proud. Pope Sixtus IV supervised the building of the chapel between 1480 and 1483, using the measurements of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem as a model. With its high vaulted ceiling and breathtaking frescoes by Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Ghirlandaio, the Sistine Chapel is still the highlight of any visit to the Vatican museums.
The Patrons restored all the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel depicting the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ. These were painted in the 15th century by Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, and their assistants. The restoration of each panel cost $270,000, making for a total of $3.5 million. The Patrons also restored the singing galleries of the Sistine Chapel, where a boys’ choir still performs periodically. (The restoration of Michelangelo’s fresco The Last Judgment was financed by the Japanese company Nippon Television; a project undertaken apart from the Patrons’ office.)
“What impresses me the most is the pictorial quality of the works,” said Elizabeth Heil, coordinator of the Patrons’ office, referring to the lateral wall frescoes. She elaborates:
These are great masterpieces. With Michelangelo, you could see that he was a sculptor because of his emphasis on the grandeur of the human body. But these frescoes reflect the talent of the pictorial tradition, which is based on medieval and early Renaissance sensibility.
Other restoration projects undertaken by the Patrons include the spiral Bramante staircase at the entrance to the museums (at a cost of $150,000), the chapel of Nicholas V with frescoes by Fra Angelico ($400,000), The School of Athens fresco by Raphael in the library of Pope Julius II ($100,000), and various individual paintings and sculptures.
“Going on the scaffoldings and meeting the people who worked on the frescoes was a beautiful experience,” said Sara Sovoldello, executive assistant at the Patrons’ office. She continues:
I was able the touch the walls with my fingers and felt as though I had gone back five centuries. To be able to see these restorers give life to the color of lapis lazuli in the Nicholas V chapel, or the little angels in Raphael’s Disputation over the Holy Sacrament—which you couldn’t see before the restoration—was very exciting. The angels literally came out of the clouds.
The School of Athens was painted in 1508 by 27-year-old Raphael Sanzio. Since its restoration in 1996, visitors can gain a fuller appreciation for Raphael’s masterly use of light and color—two elements which serve to unite the entire composition. The fresco depicts the great philosophers of Athens in a vaulted hall that is partially open to the sky. The figures of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagoras, Euclid, Alcibiades, Diogenes, Ptolemy, Zoroaster, and a self-portrait of Raphael seem to be frozen in their discussion of metaphysics and natural philosophy.
Art for art’s sake, or the Gospel?
The vast majority of the works restored with the help of the Patrons bring theological truths to life, or illustrate biblical scenes that hold deep meaning for the religious Catholic. For example Raphael’s painting The Disputation over the Holy Sacrament shows the victory of Christianity over various other schools of philosophical thought. All the great minds of ancient times are depicted as they discuss the reality of the Blessed Sacrament and what it means.
In fact, the demonstrated fact that art can be used as an evangelical tool provides one of the motivations for some of the Patrons who choose to become involved. “The Church has always used art as a means to convey the faith, “ observes Father Duston. “Every year 3 to 4 million people come to the Vatican museums, and they are confronted with religion in art. For many Catholics, it’s a catechetical technique through images.”
In his famous book The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton recounts that one of the experiences that contributed to his conversion was a summer spent in Rome during his youth. The impact of seeing countless images of Jesus and depictions of a merciful God in the Vatican museums left an indelible mark on the future Trappist monk.
But not all Patrons become involved for religious reasons. Some people are surprised to learn that not all Patrons are even Catholic. Jews comprise 15 percent of the group’s membership; Protestants make up another 25 percent. “Many people are just interested in great art,” explains Father Duston. “In fact, we try to make it clear that [the goals of the] Patrons are specific to art restoration. It’s not the propagation of the faith.”
Carlo Orichuia, one of the first Italians to sign on as a patron, wants to make the art of the Vaticans musuems more accessible. “I met Father Allen years ago, “ Orichuia says. “When he told me about what the Patrons were doing in the US, I said that we had to do something in Italy. After all, we have one of the greatest patrimonies of art in the world.” The Italian patrons recently organized a series of concerts in Rome featuring sacred music. The events were geared to increase awareness of the organization, stimulating interest among potential Italian members of the Patrons.
Once a person signs on as a member, he is allowed to have private tours of the Vatican museums, free of charge, whenever he visits Rome. No matter what faith they adhere to, all Patrons are invited to attend a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Edmund Szoka, the president of Vatican City. On December 1999, just before the beginning of the Jubilee year, some Patrons were even able to meet Pope John Paul II during the ceremony which marked the completion of the Sistine Chapel’s restoration. A typical donor’s tour, organized by the Patrons’ office, might also involve a visit to the Vatican Museum’s laboratories, where painstaking restoration work is done on frescoes, textiles, paper, metal, ceramics, mosaics, and tapestries. These special glimpses behind the scenes of the restoration process give donors the opportunity to see where their money is really going; the Patrons also have a chance to ask technical questions of the restoration experts.
The Jubilee year proved to be a record-breaking year for the Patrons office. About 1,500 individual Patrons came to visit the museums—three times the normal rate. Eight different chapters of the Patrons came to Rome as groups.
The next major project for the Patrons is the restoration of the Casina: the garden house of Pope Pius IV in the Vatican Gardens, which currently houses the Pontifical Academy of Science. This restoration project will require $2.5 million to complete. The Homeland Foundation in New York—an institutional member of the Patrons’ chapter in that city—is already committed to provide those funds.
And when that project is finished, what will be next? Walking through the 12 miles of gallery space within the Vatican museums—which embrace 13 different component museums and collections—one quickly realizes that the work never ends. As Father Duston assures us, “there is always something to restore.”
Sabrina Arena Ferrisi writes for the news agency I. Media in Rome.