Columbus Murals

Gregori's sketch of Columbus Coming Ashore, black ink over graphite on tracing paper

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.[1] 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[lower-alpha 1] of the new Main Building.[3]

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.[4] 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.[4] 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.[5][6]

Gregori began the first painting, called Christopher Columbus, Explorer, in mid-November 1881 and finished it before the end of the year.[7] He painted the other eleven murals from 1882 to 1884, completing each one as funds were donated by faculty and other private individuals.[3][8] He used pigment with casein paint to do his work on the plaster walls.[9] However, the plaster was dry, so they are not true frescoes.[10]

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.[11][12] Notre Dame faculty, Congregation of Holy Cross members, benefactors, and Gregori himself also served as models for other people in the murals.[7][10][13][14]

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".[15]

"Columbus Presenting Natives", a Columbian Issue postage stamp based on The Reception at Court

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.[16]

The murals are each 11 feet (3.4 m) tall, ranging in width from 5.5 to 19 feet (1.7 to 5.8 m).[17] They are all located in a hallway south of the central rotunda of the Main Building.[10] The twelve paintings are:[10]

1. Christopher Columbus, Discoverer[18] or Christopher Columbus, Explorer[19]—It shows Columbus standing tall next to a globe, in an akimbo posture with his hand on his hip, suggesting importance and influence.[19] He points to North America on the globe, although he never recognized that he had landed on the continent.[18]
2. Isabella the Catholic, Protectress of Columbus
3. Columbus at the Gate of the Convent of La Rabida
4. Father Perez Blesses Columbus before He Embarks—It depicts Juan Pérez with Columbus before departure from Palos de la Frontera.
5. The Mutiny at Sea
6. Discovery of Land, Friday, October 12, 1492 or Sighting of Land, Friday, October 12, 1492
7. Taking Possession of the New World or Columbus Coming Ashore
8. Return of Columbus and Reception at Court
9. Bobadilla Betrays Columbus—Francisco de Bobadilla in Columbus' cottage
10. Death of Columbus, Valladolid, May 20, 1506
11. Father Diego de Deza, Protector of Columbus at Salamanca—It depicts Diego de Deza, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, who helped Columbus gain access to them.
12. Luis de Santangel, Treasurer of Aragon—Luis de Santángel helped Columbus secure funding for his voyage.

The murals portray Columbus in a saintly light, and Gregori painted scenes showing Columbus as doing God's work.[20] The Reception at Court depicts Columbus presenting treasures of the New World to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain: pineapples, nuts, spices, gold figurines, a parrot, as well as several Taíno people.[9][21] The presence of a large number of clergy indicates that the natives are to be baptized. A large crowd watches behind them, and in the background is a fleet of ships.[22]

There are numerous historical inaccuracies in the murals. In The Reception at Court, for example, the natives are depicted holding shields which northern Plains Indians would use and wearing Mandan clothes, whereas Columbus actually encountered the Taíno of the Caribbean.[22] The inaccuracies are attributed to a combination of ignorance (at the time, Native Americans were seen as a monolithic group, rather than a diverse group of tribes)[9] and intentional symbolism (Notre Dame's founding Holy Cross missionaries encountered Plains Natives).[23] Furthermore, Gregori may have drawn inspiration from Notre Dame's own collection of artifacts.[9]

A group of Indigenous students were the first to campaign for the murals' removal in the 1970s. The 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage two decades later resurfaced protests against the pieces,[24] and in 1997, a faculty committee created a brochure to offer historical context to the murals, saying that "the University of Notre Dame recognizes that the Columbus murals reflect 19th-century white European views of race, gender and ethnicity which may be offensive to some individuals".[25]

A 2017 letter to the editor of Notre Dame's student newspaper, The Observer, signed by over 300 students, employees, and alumni, called for the murals to be removed. In January 2019, university president John I. Jenkins announced a plan to cover the murals.[26] In September 2020, the paintings were covered with fabric decorated to resemble tapestries of plants and animals, although the coverings can be removed for faculty and other uses.[27]

• 
  Columbus at the Gate of the Convent of la Rabida
• 
  Father Perez blesses Columbus before he embarks
• 
  The Mutiny at Sea
• 
  Sighting of Land, Friday, October 12, 1492
• 
  Columbus Coming Ashore
• 
  Return of Columbus and Reception at Court
• 
  Bobadilla Betrays Columbus
• 
  Death of Columbus, Valladolid, May 20, 1506
• 
  Christopher Columbus, Explorer
• 
  Father Diego de Deza, Protector of Columbus at Salamanca
• 
  Isabella the Catholic, Protectress of Columbus
• 
  Luiz de Santangel, Treasurer of Aragon

• List of monuments and memorials to Christopher Columbus
• List of monument and memorial controversies in the United States

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Columbus murals.

• Columbus Murals – Office of the President
• Notre Dame history page on the Columbus Murals