Sculptor

Farrugia, known as ‘Mastru Xand’ was born in the ‘raħal t’isfel’ in Żejtun. He was the son of Giuseppe Farrugia and Domenica née Abela. Xandru studied under the renowned sculptor Mariano Gerada* and he was so much influenced by his tutor, that very often, he was constrained to model his statues on those by Gerada.

Farrugia is perhaps best known for his three titular processional statues in Tarxien (The Annunciation in 1829), Mqabba (Santa Maria in 1836), and Safi (St Paul in 1840). He also sculpted an extensive number of statues and other ecclesiastical decorations, like the set of candlesticks for the Discalced Carmelite church of St Theresa in Cospicua.

Farrugia’s preferred medium was wood, but his abilities in stone can equally be observed.

His fame spread outside Malta presumably through Maltese settlers and traders in North Africa. He is recorded to have sculpted sacred statues for different places in Tunisia, like Sfax – the Ecce Homo (1839); Tunis – St Nicholas (1849); Djerba - Ecce Homo and Our Lady of Sorrows (1855), and for Alexandria in Egypt ­– St Francis of Assisi (1851).

On 8 November 1814 Xandru Farrugia married Marianna Camilleri, the widow of Giuseppe Zahra, who bore him a son and two daughters. He went to live in the other part of Żejtun, Ħal Bisbut.

His son Giovanni followed in his footsteps. Among the latter’s works, are the stone statues of St Catherine and St Roque in St Gregory Cemetery, Żejtun.

This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.