Standing high for both the extent and the quality of his production, Emvin Cremona was one of the leading figures of his generation. The son of Giuseppe Cremona and Maria Assunta née Mizzi, Emmanuel Vincent was born in Valletta on May 27, 1919 – 100 years ago. Though his family had no traditional links with art, the young Emvin felt an early calling to an artistic career.

In 1935, Emvin enrolled at the Malta Government School of Art. In 1938, he went to Rome’s Regia Accademia di Belle Arti. Due to war hostilities, he was instructed by local authorities to return to Malta in 1940, and started producing works for private patrons and the Church.

In 1945, he managed to resume his studies abroad, attending the Slade School University College in London (1945-47) and, in 1946, he spent a few months at the Ècole Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris. Through these experiences, the artist experienced, at first hand, the ongoing important developments in abstraction.

From 1949 to 1959 he was a teacher of painting at the Malta Government School of Art. In the 1960s and 1970s Cremona dominated Malta’s artistic scene. He was a master of design and a lucid draughtsman with strong compositional powers derivative of his understanding of Byzantine art that turned him into a virtuoso mural painter specialising in sacred art.

Cremona’s work can be divided into four main categories: his sacred works; the designs for stamps; paintings and drawings inspired by the local heritage; and his abstract works. Throughout, his works are characterised by harmony, sophistication and elegance. His output is imbued with a rare sensitivity of a gifted graphic designer that is combined with an impressively rich and sensitive feeling for colour and line.

In spite of the pressure of his patrons to conform to more traditional schemes, Cremona introduced very innovative ideas in Maltese churches and managed to lift the blankets of conservatism. He intelligently struck a balance between traditionalismand modernity.

Cremona’s determination to create church art that was modern yet truly devotional, broke down the resistance of Church traditionalists and dominated the field of church painting for two decades.

It was during this post-war period, just a few years after the rebuilt Senglea Basilica was consecrated, that he was commissioned by Senglea collegiate church to produce the images of four Roman pontiffs intimately connected with the parish’s most special occasions.

Throughout, his works are characterised by harmony, sophistication and elegance

Senglea reflects Malta’s religious heritage with an astounding basilica dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, better known locally as Our Lady of Victories. Built in 1580 to commemorate the Great Siege of 1565, this is Senglea’s main church. By decree of Pope Gregory XIII, it became the parish church of the locality in 1581. It was consecrated on October 20, 1743, by Bishop Paulo Alpheran de Bussan.

Following a petition submitted by the parish priest Don Salvatore Bonnici, Pope Pius VI, on May 21, 1786, issued the Apostolic bull Exigit Apostolici Officii. Through this bull, the Pope raised Senglea parish church to the dignity of collegiata insignis, a distinguished collegiate church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college, popularly known as a chapter of canons, a non-monastic community of clergy.

Two other memorable events in the history of this parish church occurred in 1921. On January 3, by means of the apostolic letter Ad Perennandum Memoriam, Pope Benedict XV elevated the collegiate church to the dignity of minor basilica. Eight months later, on September 4, the basilica became a sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the solemn crowning of the statue of Our Lady, popularly known as Il-Bambina, by Archbishop Dom Mauro Caruana, OSB.

During World War II, Senglea suffered heavy bombardments. On January 16, 1941, a blitz by the Luftwaffe on HMS Illustrious, docked at the nearby Corradino, together with other blitz throughout the war years, caused numerous fatalities and destroyed most of the city’s buildings, including the basilica.

The rebuilt basilica was consecrated by Mgr Michael Gonzi, Archbishop of Malta, on August 24, 1957, during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII.

Cremona’s imprint lies in the immortalisation of these salient milestones marked in the annals of the history of this Senglea church.

In a 1961 Cremona painting donated by Carmelo Galea, Pope Gregory XIII is pictured wearing the Papal red winter mozzetta and camauro both with ermine trim. With joined hands, the Pope is on a kneeling stool covered with red drapery. In the background and in monochromatic style, the artist inserted the façade of the original parish church.

In a painting made in 1960 and donated by David Bonello, Cremona presented Pius VI wearing pontifical vestments with a white cope, fastened at the front by an elaborate morse, and the Papal tiara. Wearing pontifical gloves, the Pope is holding a ferula, with two horizontal bars near the top in his left hand, while with his right, he appears to be blessing the insigna of the newly created collegiate church. These are the violet mozzetta, which is worn over a rochet trimmed with lace, and the pectoral decoration of the canons of this collegiate.

The image of Pope Benedict XV was made by Cremona in 1960. The Pope is here seen wearing the red winter mozzetta, over a rochet trimmed with lace. Wearing a gold-embroidered red pontifical stole, the Pope is blessing and guiding viewers’ attention towards the golden crown, placed on a red cushion, and the ciborium magnum, which was erected above the High Altar when the church was declared basilica.

The fourth painting which shows Pope Pius XII, made by Cremona in 1961, marks the rebuilding of the basilica and its consecration. Like the previous image of Pope Benedict XV, this was also donated by John Caruana and his wife Maria née Depasquale.

Here, Pope Pius XII is seen wearing a papal mantle fastened at the front by a morse, and a mitre decorated with gold embroidery and precious stones. He appears to be following the rite prescribed in the open missal in front of him, while bestowing his benediction upon the rebuilt basilica, painted in monochromatic style.

It was also Pope Pius XII who, in 1954, through the encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam, instituted the feast of the Queenship of Mary. It was a time when the building of the new façade of the basilica was nearing completion. So it was felt appropriate that a statue representing Maria Regina be placed on a plinth on top of the frontispiece.

This statue, donated by cleric Paul Cauchi and his sister Helen, was sculptured in marble, in Carrara, Italy, based on designs prepared by Cremona. After it reached Malta in December 1955, it was blessed and hoisted in place on January 29, 1956.

In 1957, Cremona was also commissioned to carry out the titular painting for the altar of the Senglea Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. This was to replace the original one which was lost during the first air bombardments of World War II in January 1941.

This painting is composed in a traditional Sacra Conversazione composition in which the Virgin Mary, seated on a throne and holding the child Jesus with her left hand, appears to be in dialogue with St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena, who is receiving the rosary beads from infant Jesus.

He intelligently struck a balance between traditionalism and modernity

On the left of the painting, there is a knight presenting the banner of victory. In the lower part of the canvas there is Malta offering the toils endured by her children who suffered and died in defence of their homeland and for their faith during the Great Siege and World War II, thus being epitomised in the dead person’s image.

In the background, monochromatically, the artist included Fort St Michael and the sanctuaries of the Rosary of Lourdes and Fatima. In the lower, right-hand corner there is the episcopal coat-of-arms of the Senglea-born Mgr Emmanuel Galea, Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General, who was procurator of the said confraternity between 1923 and 1944, and who funded part of the expenses.

The chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, built in 1786, also suffered severe damage during the war years. When the rebuilt chapel started being redecorated, Cremona was commissioned to provide two small paintings for the side walls. These show two events intimately related with the Eucharist, namely the Last Supper and the Breaking of the Bread at Emmaus. These paintings were donated by Maria Bonanno and Joseph Bonanno respectively.

The final knot that linked Cremona with Senglea came when, in 1971, the parish was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the crowning of Il-Bambina. The artist was commissioned to prepare the design for a sprig of three gold roses, later manufactured by the firm John Muscat Dublesin. Eventually, this sprig, donated by the people of Senglea, was, on September 4, 1971, placed at the foot of the statue of Our Lady by Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro, Archbishop of Bologna.

Cremona’s intense artistic life practically came to a sud­den halt when his state of health broke down in 1984. Three years later, on January 29, 1987, he passed away.

On an obituary card, a prayer penned by Prof. Oliver Friggieri ends with the words: “Now let him rest for ever in a place where he can fully enjoy the real splendour of which You gave him a glimpse through art” – definitely a fitting recognition of the artist’s valiant efforts to use his God-given talents to the full.