MEADOWS MUSEUM PRESENTS 'THE LOST MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE SISTINE CHAPEL'

RARE, LAVISHLY-ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE SISTINE CHAPEL THAT WERE RESCUED FROM NAPOLEON'S ARMY, ONLY TO FALL UNDER THE RADAR SCREEN OF ART HISTORY FOR TWO CENTURIES, HAVE RECENTLY GONE ON DISPLAY IN DALLAS. THE EXHIBIT AT SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY'S MEADOWS MUSEUM, WHICH RUNS UNTIL 23.APRIL, IS THE ONLY CHANCE FOR THE US PUBLIC TO SEE THE STUNNING, HAND-MADE CODICES OR MANUSCRIPTS. 'THE LOST MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE SISTINE CHAPEL: AN EPIC JOURNEY FROM ROME TO TOLEDO' FEATURES 40 CODICES THAT RANGE IN DATE FROM THE 11th TO THE 18th CENTURY. THESE WERE IN THE SACRISTY OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL SO THESE WERE THE MOST PRIVATE BOOKS READ BY THE POPES AND CARDINALS AT VERY SPECIAL CEREMONIES. THERE ARE SOME CODICES HERE THAT MICHELANGELO WOULD HAVE HEARD OR READ FROM', SAID MEADOWS DIRECTOR MARK ROGLAN. ASIDE FROM THEIR ARTISTIC VALUE, THE WRITINGS IN THE CODICES ARE LITURGICAL TREASURE TROVES WHICH INCLUDE BLESSINGS, MISSALS AND PREPARATIONS FOR MASSES. THEIR JOURNEY TO DALLAS HAS BEEN IMPROBABLE. THEY WERE LOOTED AT THE END OF THE 18th CENTURY FROM THE VATICAN BY NAPOLEON'S RAMPAGING ARMIES AND MANY WERE SLICED AND DICED AND SOLD IN FRAGMENTS. BUT THE HEROIC EFFORTS OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO ENABLED MANY OF THEM TO BE RESCUED, THOUGH OVER THE YEARS THEY WERE LARGELY FORGOTTEN. THEIR REDISCOVERY OCCURRED IN 1997 WHEN ART HISTORIAN ELENA DE LAURENTIIS, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GENOA, STUMBLED UPON A PHOTOGRAPH OF ONE OF THE CODICES IN AN ARCHIVE AND RECOGNIZED ITS SIGNIFICANCE. THE MANUSCRIPTS ARE EYE-CATCHING, WITH THEIR ELEGANT HAND-WRITTEN SCRIPT, STUNNING IMAGES AND BEAUTIFUL BINDINGS. ONE ARRESTING AND COLOURFUL ILLUSTRATION FROM THE LATE 15th CENTURY IN INK, PIGMENT AND GOLD ON VELLUM DEPICTS THE CRUCIFIXION, A COMMON MOTIF.