Explore the History of this artwork, Columbus Murals.
In 1874, founder and former university president Edward Sorin visited the Vatican and hired Luigi Gregori, an artist-in-residence there, to be an art professor at Notre Dame. An 1879 fire destroyed the campus's Main Building, but it was rebuilt during that summer; two years later, Sorin commissioned Gregori to create a collection of artwork to decorate the first floor of the new Main Building.In the nineteenth century, Americans thought of Columbus as a heroic figure and a symbol of independence, progress, and faith, which went along with the manifest destiny movement. Columbus was also an appealing figure to Notre Dame's faithful population, as Catholics had rallied behind him as a rare Catholic contributor to the mostly Protestant history of the US. The figure also helped fight the nineteenth-century nativism movement, particularly against Italian Americans, and anti-Catholic sentiment—stemming from the view that Catholics were loyal to the pope before their country.Gregori began the first painting, called Christopher Columbus, Explorer, in mid-November 1881 and finished it before the end of the year. He painted the other eleven murals from 1882 to 1884, completing each one as funds were donated by faculty and other private individuals. He used pigment with casein paint to do his work on the plaster walls. However, the plaster was dry, so they are not true frescoes.At the time, scholars disputed Columbus's physical appearance, and no authoritative portrait existed, so Gregori used then-current president Thomas E. Walsh as the model for Columbus's face in all but one mural and Sorin for Columbus on his deathbed. Notre Dame faculty, Congregation of Holy Cross members, benefactors, and Gregori himself also served as models for other people in the murals.Contemporary accounts and descriptions of the murals are complimentary and reflect the positive image of Columbus. An account in the New York Freeman's Journal, published in 1886 in the Notre Dame Scholastic, says that "some of [the] students are young and careless; but the pictures are treated with respect, almost with reverence, and no boyish hand has attempted to deface the walls".
In honor of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the Columbian Issue, a set of sixteen commemorative postage stamps, was created, and the 10¢ stamp was based on The Reception at Court mural.
Thomas E. Walsh Catholics fresco manifest destiny Main Building New York Freeman's Journal Columbian Issue New York Freeman university president Luigi Gregori nativism pigment pope anti-Catholic commemorative postage stamp Edward Sorin mural casein paint the Vatican Italian Americans World's Columbian Exposition Christopher Columbus Notre Dame Scholastic Congregation of Holy Cross