A lithography of Tommaso Madiona made by the Senglea-born Antonio Zammit, an artist and student of Madiona.Purismo was an Italian cultural movement that began in the 1820s. The group intended to restore and preserve language through the study of medieval authors, and this study extended to the visual arts. The artists of Purismo, inspired by the Nazarenes from Germany, rejected Neoclassicism and rivalled the works of Raffaello, Giotto and Fra Angelico. The movement flourished through 1860. One of the main protagonists of the Purist idiom was the Maltese artist Tommaso Madiona.
Born in Senglea on May 7, 1803, Madiona, son of Michelangelo and Magdalena née Gilibert, was baptised a day later in the Senglea Collegiate by Can. Remigio Bonnici who, at the time, was the vice-parish priest of the Senglea parish.
In his youth, he studied art at the University of Malta under Michele Bellanti (1807-1883). He showed great talent in design and his master was often impressed by his drawings. This led the University to award him a gold medal for his sketches. Furthermore, his designs attracted the personal attention of Governor Sir Thomas Maitland, who recommended him for a scholarship abroad. Unfortunately, this idea of obtaining a scholarship died with the Governor in 1824.
Nonetheless, he did not lose heart and decided to go to Rome anyway. He stayed there from 1825 to 1832, paying all the expenses out of his own pocket. He proceeded to the Accademia di Belle Arti where he studied design under the celebrated professors Tommaso Minardi (1787-1871), the founder of the Italian Purist Movement, and Johann Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869). Both painters also taught many of his compatriots, including Giovanni Farrugia, Enrico Casolani, Vincenzo Hyzler, Luigi Bonavia and Ignazio Cortis. While in the Eternal City, Madiona’s art was also patronised by aristocratic personalities, including Princess Donna Vittoria Barberini.
In his biography found in L’Arte (May, 22, 1864) we read that his works, especially those related to design, received the appreciation “dei celebri pittori, Minardi, Overbeck, e di altri moderni rigeneratori dell’antico buon gusto”. Minardi himself recommended him not to limit himself to design, but to make replicas of great artists from the past.
Some of Tommaso Madiona’s paintings (from left): Our Lady of Mount Carmel painted for the Ta’ Ħemet church in Gozo; the titular painting for the Senglea parish church painted in 1850.From among these replicas we find the painting of Our Lady of Mount Carmel which was made by Madiona for the small church, known as Ta’ Ħamet, found in the limits of Victoria. One can easily refer to this painting as not just as a copy but also as an adaptation of Raffaello’s Madonna di Foligno. In this painting, Madiona exchanged the scene of the village of Foligno with the landscape around the Gozitan chapel where this painting was to be located.
In the Malta Government Gazette of May 2, 1838, we read that: “The artist Tommaso Madiona has just finished a picture of the Blessed Virgin and Child, which is a fresh instance of the successful efforts of diligence and study. The production is executed for a chapel in Gozo; but on Saturday next, and the next week, it will be exhibited in the church of St Catherine, at the top of Strada Mercanti, between the hours of 10 and four daily.”
From left: The St Philip Neri painted for the Gozo Matrice in 1852 and the altarpiece of the Blessed Trinity painted in 1853.After being taken to Gozo, it was exhibited in the Xewkija parish from where it was taken by procession to the Ta’ Ħamet chapel accompanied by the Chapter of the Matrice on July 22, 1838.
The Malta Times of July 31, 1840, reported the completion of a painting that Madiona had made for the Porto Salvo church in Valletta. It said: “Signor Madiona has painted a very fine picture for the Dominican church, Strada Mercanti. This artist studied in Rome and gives promise of doing honour to his country by helping its progress in the fine arts. This picture was first exhibited on Sunday last. The subject is the apostolic mission of St Dominic in France, in which the person of the saint appears surrounded with the converts.”
In this ambitious work, the artist borrowed some details from other contemporary artists of the Renaissance, such as Pinturicchio. Although this painting was considered to have significant value, on January 10, 1898, the Dominican Council decided to replace it with another one made by Giuseppe Cali (1846-1930). The painting made by Madiona found its place in one of the corridors of the priory.
In 1850, Madiona worked on the titular painting for Senglea, his home town. During this period, he lived together with his brother, Don Francesco, in 37-38, Strada San Giuliano, Senglea. The painting, which replaced the original by Mattia Preti (1613-1699), was directly commissioned by archpriest Don Leopoldo Fiteni (1822-1852). It was considered a masterpiece.
In fact, in L’Ordine of September 14, 1850, we read: “Esso è un capolavoro del nostro concittadino signor Tommaso Madiona, gia noto fra noi per varie alter sue opera dell’arte pittorica. Il pensiero del gran quadro, benche abbondi di figure, e semplicissimo”. (“It is a masterpiece by our compatriot Thomas Madiona, already well-known among us for his various works of pictorial art. The theme behind this large painting, though abounding in figures, is simple.”)
In 1850, Madiona worked on the titular painting for Senglea, his home town. It was considered a masterpiece
The whole composition of the painting is dominated by the figure of St Anne holding Mary, her child. On the upper part one sees God the Father accompanied by figures from the Old Testament, with Moses, David, Isaiah and Jeremy on one side, and Sarah, Judith, Deborah and Esther on the other. St Anne is attended by St Joachim and another three female figures one of whom is pointing a finger towards the baby. This is, in fact, one of Madiona’s characteristics. In his paintings, he often included figures pointing their finger. We find similar examples in the paintings of Our Lady of Guadeloupe and of St Philip Neri.
All the expenses for this painting were paid by the Sodalità de Preti of the Senglea parish. Fortunately, this pala d’altare was spared from destruction during World War II when the Senglea basilica was almost reduced to rubble. In the post-war years, while the basilica was being rebuilt, on December 14, 1955, the Senglea collegiate chapter decided to put the statue of Our Lady of the Nativity (Maria Bambina) instead of Madiona’s painting. The statue itself was a sanctuary, crowned by Vatican decree on September 4, 1921.
Two other paintings by Madiona (left The copy of Raffaello’s Deposition of Jesus Christ. Right: The only painting showing La Madonna de Guadalupe, painted for the church of Our Lady of Porto Salvo in Senglea.This painting, which was originally made to be an altarpiece, and which was described by history of art professor Mario Buhagiar as “an ambitious but satisfactorily realised composition which achieves a better artistic level than his other religious paintings scattered in several churches in Malta and Gozo” (The Iconography of the Maltese Islands, Malta, 1987, p. 169); was placed to decorate the ceiling of the chapter hall.
Madiona continued to adorn Senglea parish church. In 1853, the painting of the Blessed Trinity together with St John de Matha and St Felix de Valois was put in place. This was during the first year of archpriest Luigi Mizzi (1853-1861) and it was paid by Vincenzo Cassar.
L’Ordine of July 24, 1852, offers us a report about the painting of St Philip Neri which Madiona had made for Gozo’s Matrice. Before it was taken to Gozo, the painting was exhibited for some days in one of the oratories adjacent to the Jesuits’ church in Valletta. Although this is not one of Madiona’s best paintings, the artist paid special attention to properly reproduce the saint’s facial expressions, which he took from the saint’s post-mortem mask which we find venerated in the church of Our Lady of Porto Salvo in Senglea.
For this same church in Senglea, Madiona painted a very interesting work. Here, till this very day, we can still admire Madiona’s Madonna de Guadeloupe as pala d’altare on the only altar to bear that title in Malta.
Back to the Gozo Matrice, apart from the painting of St Philip Neri, Madiona has other works. These are the paintings of St Publius and of St Agatha, patron saints of the Maltese islands. These can be seen on either side of the titular painting by Michele Busuttil (1762-1831), which shows the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These paintings were given to the church by Can. Don Francesco Borg.
Although Madiona is renowned for painting religious themes, in 1843, J. Quintana, in his Guida dell’Isola di Malta e sue dipendenze (Malta, 1843), described him as a “pittore di storia”. It is interesting that Madiona painted a number of portraits, including that of Mgr Paolo Micallef. This was done in 1855 when Micallef was general superior of the Agustinian Order.
Madiona did not just limit himself to paintings and to the artistic genre. He was also interested in literature, history and mythology. Besides this, he boasted of his high education in music. He was an excellent guitarist and inventor of a pedal-geared guitar that could be used on scores prepared for the pianoforte.
Indeed, in his biography cited above, we read: “…essendo stato uno dei primi nostri Esecutori e Compositori di Chitarra. Egli alternando il suo tempo fra la pittura e la musica, invento una nuova forma di chitarra a pedali, ed a piu corde, colla quale eseguiva quasi tutte le carte scritte pel piano. Se in quest’uomo la modestia non fosse pari al suo ingegno, avrebbe acquistato egli una grande rinomanza presso gli amatori di quello strumento, con pubblicare nei giornali maltesi e dell’estero questa sua invenzione, che fin allora si credeva affatto impossibile.”
(“...having been one of our top performers and guitar composers. He alternated his time between painting and music, inventing a new form of guitar with pedals, and more chords, with which he performed almost all the pieces written for the piano. If this man’s modesty was not equal to his talent, he would have acquired a great reputation among lovers of that instrument by publishing his invention in local and foreign newspapers, which till then was believed impossible.”)
Unfortunately, due to the fact that he suffered loss of eyesight, his brilliant artistic career came to an abrupt end at the age of 60. Madiona died in Senglea on April 7, 1864, and was interred in Senglea’s collegiate church. A week after his death, on April 15, one of his paintings was transferred from his house to the parish. Although the subject of this painting is unknown, most probably, it was the copy of Raffaello’s Deposition of Jesus Christ, made by Madiona himself and which now adorns the stairway leading to the Senglea’s chapter hall.
His demise continued to augment the void suffered by the Maltese artistic arena in the middle of the 19th century after the death of Michele Busuttil (1831), Pietro Paolo Caruana (1852), Salvatore Busuttil (1854), Vincenzo Hyzler (1849), Giuzeppe Hyzler (1858) and Giovanni Farrugia (1861).
Notwithstanding this, one can say that after Madiona’s death, there emerged a new generation of Purist artists such as Antonio Zammit, Giuseppe Bonnici, Salvatore Barbara and Ignazio Carlo Cortis, who, together with others, often worked under his direction. This allowed Purist art in Malta to continue to renew itself till the end of the century.