Fresco restoration on the ceiling of the St Louis Cathedral in 1950. The renovation was done under the direction of local architectural firm Diboli, Kessels, and Associates, with consultation and artisan labor provided by Rambusch Decorating Co. of NYC.
In the spring of 1950, in anticipation of the upcoming Metropolitan Centennial, interior refurbishment and renovations began in the St. Louis Cathedral.
The original plan was to re-plaster interior walls, freshen up old and add new frescos, clean and retouch paintings and murals, and reapply gold leaf to the lettering on the white marble altar. Pews, pulpits, and other furnishings would be repainted, chandeliers would be raised, and new lighting would be added throughout. And the old Spanish pipe organ would be carefully removed, packed, and sent to Maryland for refurbishing. The project, the first of its kind since 1838, was expected to cost $80,000.
Services, weddings, and other events were able to continue uninterrupted throughout the renovations, including an Easter mass led by Archbishop Rummel in April that was the first ever televised religious service from a church in New Orleans.
The old plaster was in such a poor condition – flaking and crumbling throughout the church, with the clerestory in particularly poor condition – that the first layers would have to be scraped off, and then plastered back over and painted. This caused concerns for the fate of the c. 1881 fresco depicting Jesus giving the keys to heaven to St. Peter while sheep graze and the apostles stand nearby painted on the plaster in the nave, but it was protected and restored.
In August, three frescos were discovered on the ceiling. It had long been assumed the murals, painted by Erasmus Humbrecht in 1872-73, were on canvas, but when workmen tried to remove them, they discovered they had been painted directly in the wet plaster. This was also a surprise to art historians, who believed none of his work had been fresco. All were in good condition and were able to be preserved.
The work was completed by October, just in time for the centennial celebration of the establishment of New Orleans as a metropolitan archdiocese. The celebrations started with a pontifical mass, including a radiogram greeting from Pope Pius XII, followed by a Procession of Prayer and men’s parade, which featured a new statue of Christ and an address from Archbishop Rummel.
