Some exhibitions sell themselves.

Michelangelo Sistine Chapel sketches never before exhibited in the United States, for instance. That’s what visitors to “Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine,” on view March 6 through May 28, 2025, at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary college in Williamsburg, VA will see.

Not just that:

· The world debut of one sketch believed to be Michelangelo’s first exploration of the Sistine Chapel.

· Two sketches of apostles which will be reunited for the first time since their creation.

· A portrait of Michelangelo by his contemporary Giuliano Bugiardini, on display for the first time in the United States.

· Two of Michelangelo’s sketches of himself painting the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling.

· A never-before-exhibited letter from Michelangelo’s friend Francesco Granacci, who, like Bugiardini, assisted in preparing the ceiling’s decoration, detailing the challenges of recruiting assistants.

· Life-size reproductions of the Sistine Chapel frescoes, including The Creation of Adam.

The presentation is the culmination of 15 years of scholarship by Adriano Marinazzo who began by researching Michelangelo’s drawings and letters at Casa Buonarroti in Florence. Michelangelo, full name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475–1564), lived for periods at the address with the family home subsequently renovated and expanded by descendants. It is now a museum with the greatest number of the artist’s letters and drawings.

“Picture this old archive, an old table, old, dusty atmosphere, it's like a Dan Brown novel–just like that,” Marinazzo, who curated the exhibition, told Forbes.com.

Like any good movie, he found something extraordinary. Something hidden in plain sight. Something apparently mundane.

“I was studying these documents and a poem by Michelangelo because he was also a poet, and there was this little sketch, nothing beautiful or impressive,” Marinazzo continued. “Since I'm an architect, I thought this drawing is something architectural, and then looking at it broadly, I thought it was a ceiling with lunettes. After a little bit, I had this epiphany, and I thought, ‘Ceiling plus Michelangelo–this was Sistine Ceiling.’”

A lunette is an arched aperture or window, especially one in a domed ceiling like the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Rome, Michelangelo’s most famed painting project.

“The idea of the exhibition started that day thinking this is the genesis, the first act by Michelangelo–this little, unimpressive, technical sketch–and (the Sistine Ceiling paintings) started from there,” Marinazzo said.

Marinazzo continued researching. He published a peer reviewed article about the discovery positioning the sketch–not much more than a doodle, a couple inches on either side at the bottom of a poem–as the earliest drawing by Michelangelo for the Sistine ceiling. Scholars agreed.

The sketch has never been displayed before. Anywhere. It debuts in Williamsburg.

The find inspired Marinazzo to dive into more documents related to Michelangelo’s early ideas on the Sistine Chapel. He published three other studies on the subject; this research became the exhibition.

Michelangelo Drawings

“Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine” was made possible through the Muscarelle Museum of Art’s longstanding relationships with leading Italian museums, including the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Casa Buonarroti, and the Musei Reali, all of which are lending artworks for the exhibition. Marinazzo was first introduced to the Muscarelle in 2008 while working as a researcher and assistant professor at the University of Florence. Muscarelle officials were there planning an exhibition of paintings from the famed Uffizi Gallery that Marinazzo assisted on.

The Muscarelle is the only place in the U.S.–in the world–where the exhibition can be seen. Five-hundred-year-old sketches can’t travel like the Grateful Dead.

Works on paper of this age, when they’re displayed at all, only stay on view for 12 weeks. Then they rest a minimum of five years. Restorers inspected each item before committing them to the exhibition, assessing their physical condition and ability to travel, tolerate light, and be framed. The government of Italy had to sign off on allowing the artworks to leave the country. A sophisticated insurance policy was crafted. Michelangelo drawings can fetch well over $10 million at auction. When travelling to the States, the artworks were divided and placed on separate airplanes in case of the worst.

Michelangelo produced hundreds of drawing sheets working out ideas for the Sistine Chapel. Fewer than 50 survive today with nearly half on view in the show.

“For Michelangelo, these drawings were not works of art, they were working tools,” Marinazzo explained. “This is why he destroyed almost all of them before dying.”

The artist’s vanity was notorious.

The drawings reveal Michelangelo’s thought process. They have an unusually animated quality. They want to move. Visitors inspecting the sketches will see Michelangelo working through problems and developing ideas on the page, in real time, direct from his mind through his hand to the page.

Alongside select drawings are the highest quality reproductions available of their corresponding paintings from inside the Sistine Chapel, some life sized. Marinazzo visited the Vatican twice, meeting with the director to produce and secure the reproductions for public display.

Visiting The Exhibition

“The Genesis of the Sistine” marks the 550th anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth. It unfolds over five galleries, with the first three enveloped in deep blue hues and soft lighting evoking the intimate atmosphere of the Sistine Chapel.

In total, 38 objects, including engravings, lithographs and other materials, provide a deeper understanding of the origins of the artist’s greatest creations. Another highlight is drawings for The Last Judgment, painted nearly 30 years after the ceiling, on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. Four preparatory sketches on view are among fewer than a dozen surviving examples and illustrate the continuity and interconnectedness of his projects over several decades.

The exhibition also marks the premiere of Marinazzo’s “This is Not My Art,” an immersive 3D video art installation representing the Sistine ceiling’s architectural structure. Projected in a darkened gallery and accompanied by evocative music, the video highlights the complexity and beauty of Michelangelo’s invention.

“The Genesis of the Sistine” is be among the first exhibitions presented in the newly renovated and expanded Muscarelle Museum of Art, opened February 8, 2025. Named the Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts, the building blends historic and contemporary design with nearly 60,000 square feet of enhanced space, tripling the Muscarelle’s exhibition capacity.

The Museum will present a robust series of events throughout the exhibition allowing the public greater insight into the artist, including daily (except Monday) docent-led tours at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM.

A film screening of “The Agony and the Ecstasy” will be held March 20 at 2:00 PM. The 1965 classic starring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo will be shown at Williamsburg’s historic Kimball Theatre. The film recounts the biographical story of Michelangelo’s troubles while painting the Sistine Chapel at the urging of Pope Julius II.

On April 8 at 5:00 PM, William E. Wallace, an internationally recognized authority on Michelangelo, will introduce scholarship from his upcoming book about Michelangelo and Titian’s 40-year rivalry. Wallace has authored eight books on Michelangelo.

On April 28 at 5:00 PM, Marinazzo leads a discussion exploring 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.