The blocked window of St John’s oratory

The ongoing controversy – widely publicised by Times of Malta – regarding the presumed original lighting for Caravaggio’s Beheading of John the Baptist in the oratory of St John’s has rightly provoked a clarifying statement from the Foundation of St John’s on the related historical facts, intended to counteract the position expressed by 27 international Caravaggio experts.

The foundation’s defence of its future plans rested upon the published findings of David Stone, citing as follows: “According to an article published in The Burlington Magazine in 1997, David M. Stone, professor emeritus of the university of Delaware Newark, the (Preti) renovations ‘eradicated most traces of the original environment for Caravaggio’s Beheading’ located on the southeast wall. The renovation done by Preti, including the blocking of the sixth window on the northeast…”

The top left window closest to the painting will be obstructed by the new tapestry hall. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

That information is perfectly correct but,  while providing Stone’s 1997 text due and merited acknowledgement, the statement of St John’s Foundation overlooked an earlier description of the same renovations appearing in my History and Works-of-art of St John’s church, published in 1989. Page 95 of that guide book, headed ‘The Oratory of St John’s’, provides the following account of Preti’s renovations, following hard upon the description of the oratory’s original plain rectangular form:-

“This severe original arrangement was transformed by Mattia Preti in the 1680s when he took in hand the redecoration of the oratory which included the installation of a beautiful altar contributed by the Grand Master Carafa (1680-1690). Preti purposely planned the Baroque renovation of the oratory as a setting for and around Caravaggio’s great work.

“He added the vault above the (oratory’s) east end, placing the altar forward, rather than beneath the painting itself where (formerly) a small, makeshift altar once stood. He thus created a small ‘choir’ between the recess and the (new) altar, in the process blocking the most easterly of the windows that had lent light to the picture; clearly, he intended the area to be provided with artificial but stronger light…”

I can indeed understand the haste that the Foundation of St John felt in justifying their plans for the future of St John’s and the precious heritage it represents. But it is equally fair that ethical standards should likewise have prevailed, acknowledging due merit when discussing such key issues.

Dominic Cutajar – Sliema