The Onorati and Immacolata oratories, part of the Jesuits’ church in Valletta, are essential components of Malta’s ecclesiastical and cultural heritage. They reflect the profound intersection of spirituality, artistry and lay involvement in the Jesuits’ historical legacy in Malta.

The Jesuits established the Oratory of the Onorati in the early 17th century as a lay congregation under the patronage of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The designation ‘Onorati’ reflects a Sicilian custom of referring to the distinguished class as being the ‘onorati’. In Malta, the Congregation of the Onorati received among its members the students of the Jesuits’ college, particularly those of theology, humanities and sciences, these being ‘onorati’ insofar as they presumably included the professional class in society.

The Oratory of the Onorati following the extensive restoration project with the cycle of painting in full view.

The oratory’s evolution saw significant artistic contributions in its embellishment, particularly the paintings by Stefano Erardi (1630-1716) and Alessio Erardi (1669-1727), whose works narrate the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Recently, Prevarti Co. Ltd, at the behest of the Jesuits’ Church Foundation, conserved and restored the paintings that decorate the walls of both oratories.

The Onorati oratory houses a cycle of eight oil-on-canvas paintings. The lateral paintings are the collaborative work of Stefano Erardi and his son Alessio, executed c. 1690, and each measure c. 330 by 235cm. In contrast, the titular altarpiece is the masterpiece of Stefano, executed in 1660 and measures c. 384.5cm by 240cm in its cropped state.

The cycle of paintings narrates seven scenes from the life of the Virgin, starting with the lateral painting of the Immaculate Conception and continues in an anticlockwise direction with The Birth of the Virgin, The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Presentation of Christ in the Temple and finally culminates in the titular altarpiece of The Assumption of the Virgin, which is in turn surmounted by a sopra quadro of The Holy Trinity crowning the Virgin Mary.

The titular altarpiece – The Assumption of the Virgin

The titular altarpiece depicts the Virgin’s assumption into heaven, with the apostles expressing various emotions upon discovering her empty casket. At the centre, a female figure holds roses found in the casket in her place.

Putti accompany the Virgin, dressed in vivid red and blue, ascending towards a golden heavenly realm. This striking use of primary colour contrasts distinguishes the painting.

The artwork was cropped in a past intervention due to alterations to its niche. Luckily, the lower portion was later found to be simply folded behind the painting rather than being cut off, revealing an inscription (possibly a signature) ‘Stefano Herarde Pingebat’ (Stefano Erardi painted this), the date 1660, and a coat of arms yet to be attributed.

Detail from the titular of the Assumption (left) and a rediscovered coat of arms that is currently the subject of a study for its identification (right).

The escutcheon features three gold fleurs-de-lis on a red field and three diagonal red bands on white, topped by a helmet crest with red, gold and white mantling. The fleur-de-lis suggests a French connection, possibly linked to Grand Master Adrien de Wignacourt (1618-1697) or the langue of France. The lack of an eight-pointed cross indicates a lay patron, not a knight of St John.

The Immaculate Conception

The first painting of the cycle portrays The Immaculate Conception, with the Virgin Mary depicted iconographically as the ‘Woman of the Apocalypse’. She stands atop a crescent moon, crushing a snake, dressed in white and blue, with a halo of 12 stars against a golden heavenly realm, surrounded by angels and the Holy Trinity.

The Virgin’s figure is an inverted version of the earlier Filippino Dingli (early 17th century, 1677) depiction at the opposite Oratory of the Immacolata. The painting also features the Castagna coat of arms with the Latin inscription ‘GASPAR DVLE IVRATVS’.

The painting of the Immaculate Conception under UV light prior to restoration (left) and the same painting following the restoration process (right).

The Birth of the Virgin

The next painting depicts The Birth of the Virgin. In the foreground, a maiden holds the infant Mary over a basin while three others observe and converse. In the middle ground, two maidens tend to St Anne, who rests in bed after childbirth, looking toward her husband, St Joachim. The composition is notably inspired by a print after Andrea Sacchi’s painting of the same theme.

Detail of the cleaning process from the painting of the Birth of the Virgin (left) and from the painting of Annunciation (right).

The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple

The last painting on the oratory’s left wall depicts The Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple. The priest receives Mary with open arms as St Anne guides her while St Joachim stands nearby among onlookers. At the temple door, people converse as a child admires a woman’s doves, a youth offers a book to the priest and Mary and cherubs hover above, observing the scene. Stefano Erardi likely referenced Pietro del Po’s etching after Nicolas Poussin. The painting includes two coats of arms, one featuring a paschal lamb and another with the De Piro arms.

The Annunciation

The first painting on the right wall of the oratory depicts The Annunciation, with the Archangel Gabriel emerging on clouds to deliver news to the Virgin, who kneels before her pre-Dieu. Above, angels part clouds to reveal a golden heavenly realm and the Holy Spirit as a dove.

Previously heavily overpainted and retouched, the artwork suffered from discolouration and surface alterations that became more visible over time. The coat of arms, resembling Lauron’s, appears at the bottom left, featuring a hillock with a flowering bush on a gold field.

The Visitation

The Visitation depicts the meeting of the Virgin with her cousin St Elizabeth, who was also miraculously pregnant at the time with St John the Baptist. St Zachariah can be seen emerging from the right-hand side. At the right-hand corner of the painting are three figures directly quoting from a print by Carlo Cesio after a fresco painting by Guido Reni depicting St Andrew Being Led to His Martyrdom.

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

The painting portrays Christ’s Presentation at the Temple of Jerusalem, with onlookers surrounding the central scene. The Virgin Mary, dressed in blue, stands at the centre right, holding a long candle and gazing at the ceremony. A cherub flies overhead, carrying incense. The painting has suffered significant abrasion, revealing the brown ground layer beneath.

The Holy Trinity (The Coronation of the Virgin)

The Sopra quadro depicts God the Father on the right with a faint triangular halo indicating God’s triune nature, Christ the Son on the left holding the crucifix and the Holy Spirit in the form of a white dove between them. They sit on clouds in front of the heavenly realm. They are holding a crown that they are about to place on top of the Virgin’s head, who seemingly ascends into heaven from the titular altarpiece.

The sopra quadro of the Holy Trinity (The Coronation of the Virgin) that situated above the titular of the Assumption, before (left) and after (right) the restoration process.

The paintings’ initial state

Before Prevarti’s intervention, the artworks were in poor condition, exhibiting various surface alterations that significantly hindered appreciation of the artists’ work.

Many of the paintings had accumulated superficial dust and dirt, while varnish layers from earlier interventions had oxidised over time, becoming yellowed, darkened and translucent opaque. More severe damage related to past water infiltrations from the ceiling and windows was noted on some of the paintings. This water infiltration caused the canvas to shrink and deform, leading to paint losses.

These issues and others, such as previous retouching and paint degradation, were more easily analysed using ultraviolet (UV) radiation. UV radiation revealed older retouching as darker areas against and under fluorescent varnish, aiding in their identification and removal during restoration. The canvas supports showed deformations, tears or losses, particularly along the edges. The paint layers suffered from cracking, flaking, lifting, cupping, losses and marks from strainer frames, all creating a raised texture, evident under raking light – where light is cast at an oblique angle to highlight the paintings’ surface topography. Dry wax drippings from candles further marred the titular altarpiece.

Such widespread damage required careful analysis to ensure appropriate conservation techniques could be employed, preserving the integrity of the materials and the artists’ intent.

Conservation and restoration

The conservation process involved several meticulous steps to preserve the paintings and their decorative frames.

First, the gilded frames were detached by removing the nails used to fasten them to the artworks’ surfaces. To protect fragile paint layers, Japanese paper was temporarily applied to areas with flaking paint. Varnish removal from previous interventions began with cleaning tests using various solvents on small, marked patches. This process ensured compatibility with different pigments.

Once the optimal solvents were identified, varnish and old retouching were removed using cotton swabs, revealing paint losses hidden by earlier restorations. More challenging old interventions, like thickly applied paint, were removed with scalpels.

Areas of lifting or cupped paint were adhered using adhesive injected with syringes, followed by controlled application of heat and pressure.

The canvases were then dismounted from their deteriorated strainer frames to allow further treatment of the paintings and replacement of the frames with sturdier stretchers. The backs of the canvases were cleaned of dust and dirt, and fabric patches causing deformations were removed. Small deformations were corrected with heat and humidity, while sagging was addressed on a low-pressure table. The canvas fibres were consolidated with a solution of consolidant, and tears or losses were inlaid with synthetic patches shaped to match the damaged areas.

To reinforce the canvases, strip lining (edge reinforcement) or full lining (a new backing canvas) was applied based on the paintings’ individual needs. For the titular altarpiece, which had been cropped in the past, the folded-back bottom section was documented and secured in place. The paintings were then stretched onto the new stretcher frames and tensioned accordingly.

An isolation layer of retouching varnish was applied over the original artwork before addressing paint losses. Losses were infilled with gesso bound with rabbit-skin glue, textured to match surrounding areas and varnished again for stability. Reversible mimetic techniques were used for aesthetic integration, ensuring the infills blended seamlessly when viewed at a distance. A final protective layer of matte and glossy reversible varnish completed the paintings’ restoration.

The decorative frames underwent repairs as well. Salvaged wood pieces in good condition were preserved, while deteriorated sections were replaced. After preparing the wood with gesso and bole, gilding was applied: 23.75k gold leaf for the titular altarpiece frame and silver leaf coated in shellac for the laterals. The metal leaf was burnished to achieve a polished finish.

To avoid damaging the paintings during reassembly, the frames were fitted with embedded magnets attached to metal brackets secured on the sides of the paintings. This eliminated the need for nails, preserving the restored surfaces.

The comprehensive restoration process successfully addressed structural and aesthetic issues in the paintings and their frames, ensuring their preservation and visual integrity for future generations.

The conservation of the Onorati Oratory’s paintings was funded through the ERDF Cultural Valorisation Funding and the Archdiocese of Malta, which was completed in 2023.

Pierre Bugeja is a conservator and director of Prevarti Co Ltd. Rev. Nicholas Joseph Doublet is president of The Jesuits’ Church Foundation.