NEW ORLEANS — "At long last, here they are," said Monsignor Crosby W. Kern of the 37 meticulously made glass and marble mosaics lining rooms of the Old Ursuline Convent in the French Quarter. "I've seen them in the Vatican. Now here they are in our place."The mosaics' history began in the 1500s, Kern explained, when the architects of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome decided that the interior should be decorated entirely with durable mosaics, not fragile paintings or frescoes.
And so it was.
Since then, a studio in the Vatican has been staffed with mosaic maestros who maintain the complicated décor.
The artists keep 36,000 colors of tesserae (tiny cubes of marble and glass) on hand — 21,000 flesh tones alone. They carefully chip the brittle tesserae to fit precisely together like rainbow paving stones and hold them in place with a secret Vatican stucco formula.
And when they're not busy sprucing up St. Peter's, the Vatican mosaicists create reproductions of fine art — from Roman murals to Renaissance frescoes to Impressionist canvases — that are sold to support the basilica or, often, given as gifts by the pope.
Kern learned all this in 2003 while touring the Vatican. He was told there had never been a comprehensive exhibit of works from the Vatican mosaic studio outside Vatican City, prompting Kern to ask why not.
"Because nobody's ever asked," was the reply.
With that, plans for the show began.
Titled An Evolution of the Human Spirit as Seen Through Mosaic Art, it includes modern mosaic reproductions from the Vatican and private collections. The exhibit runs through June 1.
Setting foot in the Old Ursuline Convent, which has allowed only occasional tours in the recent past, may well be worth the price of admission.
The steep-roofed green-gray building was a focal point of the colonial Crescent City, housing everything from New Orleans' first school — which enrolled European, African and American Indian girls — to the state Legislature (only temporarily).
The convent had been standing for a generation when Andrew Jackson visited before the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, asking the nuns to pray for victory.
"The building itself is a museum piece," Kern said, noting the well-worn cypress staircase with hand-wrought iron rails.
Perusing the mosaics, Kern pointed out some of his favorite details, such as the frill on Mary's shawl in a mosaic based on Raphael's Virgin of the Chair that is reproduced in delicate wisps of colored glass.
The flowers in the foreground of another piece, The Roman Forum, are so real "you could reach out and pick them," he said.
Best of all, to Kern's eye, is Church of Auvers, in which Vincent van Gogh's every blunt brush stroke is reproduced with a glass rectangle.
"It's just so vibrant," Kern said. "To me that's van Gogh. The life he brought to it. The mosaic artist has captured that in the copy like I can't believe. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was looking at the original."
Reflecting on the difficulties of shepherding the mosaics to New Orleans, Kern said, "It's been a three-year trial of hell and fire to get them here."
He believes it will be well worth it.
"Through mosaics we can attain an appreciation for the beauty and truth that we can see in the concrete," he said, suddenly sounding much more priestly than most exhibit curators, "and through that, we can get an image of God himself."
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