Eagled-eyed visitors to the Grandmaster’s Palace in Valletta may spot something out of place if they happen to look up at the building’s ceiling: two figures wearing black face masks synonymous with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The masks were painted onto the ceiling of the building, built by the Knights between the 16th and 18th century, during the extensive €40 million restoration project that took place between 2019 and 2024.
A spokesperson for Heritage Malta, which manages the site, stressed that the face masks were not added onto an existing painting, located in the corridor of a section known as the Piano Nobile, but were part of a painting that had to be redone completely from scratch.
“This reproduction was necessary because more than half of the original panel painted by Nicolo Nasoni in the 18th century had been lost and the remaining portions were in a very poor condition and fragmented state. In fact, in the 1970s, tentative interventions were carried out to reconstruct many of the missing pieces,” he said.
The restoration was possible thanks to the existence of a black and white photograph that featured the ceiling. This allowed the restorer, renowned conservator Anthony Spagnol, a degree of artistic licence when it came to choosing the painting’s colour pallet.
The spokesperson said the addition of face masks was in line with established conservation ethics.
“It is essential to distinguish between original work and a reproduction that is inspired by and in accordance with the original. However, it is equally important to avoid presenting a reproduction as original. Consequently, it was deemed appropriate to incorporate contemporary elements into the newly painted section to distinguish it from the areas originally painted by Nasoni,” the spokesperson said.
Given that the restoration of the ceiling took place during one of the COVID-19 lockdowns, face masks were the obvious choice.
Such subtle additions are commonplace when restoring a work of art. A restored stained-glass window in the private chapel of Windsor Castle, in the UK, which was damaged by fire in 1992, features a depiction of firemen and staff saving a painting, on the suggestion of the late Prince Philip.
A more recent example is the subject of controversy in France. After designs for six new stained-glass windows in the fire-damaged Notre Dame cathedral were unveiled last year, an architectural conservation group said it intended to launch a legal case seeking to block their installation.