17 October 2008
6. During the course of this year, Edizioni Musei Vaticani has produced two new volumes based on the collection of paintings in the picture gallery, or the Pinacoteca, built by the architect Luca Beltrami in 1932 under the papacy of Pius XI.
The collection of paintings, which winds through eighteen rooms staring with the so-called primitivi (12th and 13th centuries) and ending with the 19th century, is amply documented in “The Vatican Pinacoteca: catalogue of exposition”, the first complete catalogue of entire collection. The project, made in collaboration with the fore-mentioned ATS Italia, is composed of an art historical introduction of each room followed by a detailed presentation of the works, their individual technical data and a colour photograph. Different specialists in Medieval and Renaissance art along with a dedicated and enthusiastic editorial staff have contributed to this publication.
Besides this complete catalogue is the book “Guide to the Masterpieces of the Vatican Pinacoteca” an EMV co-edition with SCALA Publishing, with a more simple and direct format. This volume joins the other titles already present in SCALA’s own Masterpiece series. The accuracy of the reproduction of the photographic inserts is of great merit in this publication where the vibrancy of the original colours enriches the details that have been carefully selected of each work of art.
A special “window” into the Sistine Chapel is now being open with the publication of a series called “The Painted Word: the Bible and the Sistine Chapel”. In the first volume, entitled “Michelangelo and the Vault”, Monsignor Roberto Zagnoli points out how Michelangelo closely adhered to the biblical texts, and he does so by comparing the Word and Michelangelo’s painted image: on the intellectual level – with the knowledge of the biblical text - and on the emotional level, with the reaction of sentiment, of the heart - that together give life to this incomparable work of art. The Word of the Bible appears thus translated visually, according to the order of events in Genesis, and communicated with superhuman power through the frescoes of Michelangelo printed in a large page format. New original photographs were taken by the expert photographers of the Vatican Museums.
From a text point of view, the book is purposely minimal. This minimalism accents the richness of detail and colour, thus allowing these elements and the very rhythm of the Michelangelo’s figures to give motion to the book.
The series dedicated to the Sistine Chapel will continue with the publication, within the year, of two volumes on Michelangelo and the Final Judgement and The Quattrocentisti in the Sistine Chapel, the early frescoes of the lateral walls that are masterpieces in their own right, and in some ways overlooked by visitors whose attention is focussed on the grandeur of Michelangelo’s works. They are in fact works by Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Cosimo Rosselli, Piero di Cosimo, and Luca Signorelli.
7. A distinctive characteristic of Edizioni Musei Vaticani is that it offers multilingual versions of its publications. To the five western languages, other lesser seen languages in Vatican editions are offered, like Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, while among the eastern languages there is Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
This choice is prompted, at times, from specific commercial contracts, but besides this and foremost, from the desire – in fact, for the Church and the Holy See – of its mission to promote cultural interchange.
The latest adventure, but only in the temporal sense of the term, will be the printing of the book “Vatican Museums” in the Arab language. This initiative responds to the cultural demands derived from the middle eastern areas, offering, through the universal language of art, a message that, while uniting in a common sentiment of wonder and admiration, may contribute to uniting peoples.
8. I have only spoken of the Sales Office of the Vatican Museums because there is no need for me to present the well-known Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV), the official publishing house of the Holy See, with whom the Sales Office of the Vatican Museums for many years has shared this stand. The Libreria Editrice Vaticana publishes, as noted, all the official documents of the Holy See and numerous other works of theology, philosophy, spirituality, church history and canon law. Distributed in various series, with other renowned publishers from all over the world, also published are the personal works of the Holy Father (a novelty introduced by Pope John Paul II).
Both the Sales Office of the Vatican Museums and the Libreria Editrice Vaticana count on the valuable support of the Vatican Printing Press, to whom I also wish to express my appreciation for the high quality of their editorial products, attributed to the state-of-the-art techniques they use, but even more so by the mastery of their profession, under the able guidance of the Salesian Fathers and Brothers.
9. While it has been my pleasure to offer these words, I renew my gratitude for the invitation to be present here in this important Fair, in this wonderful country that is Germany, where I had the privilege of spending not too brief of a period in my life, and most recently, an additional 8 years as Apostolic Nuncio.
To all those present, I renew my heartfelt greetings and thanks for your generous attention.