For billions of people worldwide, there is spiritual significance to the fact that the papal conclave is held in the Sistine Chapel inside Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica, immersing the participants in one of the most profound works of sacred art ever made. Michelangelo’s (1475–1564) visual cosmology of creation has inspired countless visitors—maybe you among them—looking up, quietly sensing the power of art to engage heart, mind, body, and soul. While the papal conclave is a complex process with human dimensions, it also has a profound spiritual dimension for many people.

Sacred spaces, sacred art. Human civilizations in all places and times have created, celebrated, preserved, and protected an immense pluralism of sacred art encompassing all faiths. Your Cincinnati Art Museum preserves, protects, and exhibits many works of sacred art both in its collection and on loan from around the world. A current example is the exhibition Tintoretto’s Genesis including three sixteenth-century masterpieces by the Italian Renaissance painter Jacopo Tintoretto (1519–1594) who was deeply influenced by Michelangelo.

Sometimes we wonder at the confluence between current events in our modern world and great art made centuries ago. Today, at your museum, you can come as you are, walk into a room surrounded by Tintoretto’s sacred art and perhaps just for a moment experience a timeless connection.