Michelangelo Exhibit Tour

Date 04/08/2025 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Thanks to WAB member Nick Vrettos, WAB members have a unique opportunity to the hottest ticket in town: "Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine Exhibit" at the Muscarelle Museum of Art.  Nick will personally lead a group of 24 WABbits on a tour of the Michelangelo exhibit on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 3 p.m.  Discounted tickets for this tour are $10, a $5 savings off the regular admission to the exhibit.  Spouses are invited.  Entrance to the Museum is free, so feel free to come before or stay after the 3 p.m. tour to explore the Museum’s other collections.  Meet for the tour at the entrance to the Michelangelo Exhibit, which is up a landing from the lobby entrance.  The Museum is located at 603 Jamestown Road, on the William and Mary Campus.  Payment is required by April 5th.  You can pay Ken McFarland directly, or via PayPal, or by mailing a check to Williamsburg Area Bicyclists, PO Box 2222, Williamsburg, VA 23187-2222.  If you plan to pay by check, please ensure your payment is received in time (the group tickets have to be purchased in one transaction in advance). To book your spot on the tour, click the “Book this Event” button as you normally do for ride bookings and the payment options (cash/check or Paypal) will be shown.  Questions?  Contact Mike Walls at president@wabonline.org. Following is information on the exhibit from a recent WY Daily press release.

WY Daily 3/7/25

WILLIAMSBURG — The Muscarelle Museum of Art’s commemoration of the 550th anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth is now on view from March 6 to May 28.

“Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine,” exclusively on view at the Muscarelle, unveils new discoveries about the artist’s work and offers the rare opportunity to behold 25 masterpiece drawings from the Sistine Chapel ceiling and “The Last Judgement.” The exhibition also features engravings, lithographs, and other materials showcasing the origin story of the artist’s greatest works.

“Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine” was made possible through the Muscarelle Museum of Art’s longstanding relationships with leading Italian museums, including the Galleriedegli Uffizi, Casa Buonarroti, and the MuseiReali, all of which are lending artworks for the exhibition, according to the museum. Additionally, the Vatican Museums are providing original images of the Sistine Chapel for the exhibition catalogue authored by Adriano Marinazzo, Michelangelo expert and the Muscarelle’s curator of special projects including this exhibit.

“It’s really rare to have this many drawings, this many predatory drawings that Michelangelo did as he looked to the work that he was about to conduct in the Sistine Chapple gathered together in one place,” explained David Brashear, director of the Muscarelle. “These Renaissance-era drawings are only allowed to be exposed to light for about 12 weeks every three to five years and what we’ve decided to do with this exhibition is just keep it here at the Moscarelle Museum. So this is going to be the only place in America that you can see this collection of great works together.”

“The Genesis of the Sistine” will be among the first exhibitions presented in the expanded Muscarelle Museum of Art, which opened in February. According to the museum, the renovated building, designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners, increases its footprint by more than 42,000 square feet and blends historic traditions with contemporary design. The new facility, named the MarthaWren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts after lead donor Martha Wren Briggs ’55, triples the museum’s exhibition capacity and reimagines interior and exterior spaces to optimize the visitor experience.

"The expanded Muscarelle Museum of Art will have a transformational impact on the cultural landscape of William & Mary,” said Brashear. “The first major exhibition in the expanded Museum, ‘Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine’ offers an opportunity of a lifetime for our visitors to view these rare artworks against the backdrop of forward-looking architecture. The exhibition continues the Muscarelle’s strong record of presenting major Renaissance exhibitions, having presented work by Botticelli in 2017, Leonardo in 2015, and Michelangelo in 2013.”

‘Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine’ offers an unprecedented glimpse into the mind of one of the most famous artists in the world, revealing the unfiltered thoughts, ideas, struggles and breakthroughs that shaped one of history’s greatest masterpieces–the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel ceiling,” said Marinazzo.

Several related programs will be offered by the museum, including:

Docent-led Tours — Led twice daily during regular hours with tours for groups available on request.
VirtualBookTalk with Author Ross King — March 30 at 2 p.m.
“Michelangelo & Titian: A Tale of Titans” with William E. Wallace — April 5 at 5 p.m.
“Michelangelo: The Tomb and the Vault” with Adriano Marinazzo — April 28 at 5 p.m.
The museum, located on the campus of William & Mary, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and closed on Mondays.

For more information about the museum and its offerings, please visit the official website.