Throughout the centuries, there emerged from Senglea artists who kept the town’s prominence at a high level. Suffice here to mention sculptors Pietro Paolo Zahra (1685), Felice Zahra (1724) and Antonio Chircop (1798); painters Francesco Zahra (1710), Tommaso Madiona (1803) and Guiseppe Bonnici (1835); statuarians Carlo Darmanin (1825) and Gerolamo Darmanin (1834); and the marmists of the Duranti and Darmanin families, among others.

A 19th-century artist, mostly known as a sculptor working in an articulate Purist idiom, was Vincenzo Bonnici.

Born in Senglea on March 20, 1821, to Gioacchino and Eufemia née Gabriele, he was baptised by Canon Dean Fortunato Costù at Senglea collegiate church and named Lorenzo, Giuseppe, Gioacchino, Vincenzo and Fortunato. His uncle, Giuseppe Gabriele, together with his wife Giovanna, acted as godparents.

On November 5, 1850, Bonnici married Anna Le Brun, taking up residence at 165, Victory Street, Senglea. Into this new family, eight children were born: Aristide (1851), Adelaides (1853), Calliopes (1854), Alodia (1856), Ismael (1857), Joachim, Maria and Carmela (twins – 1860), and Melania (1862).

An artist by birth, at the age of 18, Bonnici started sculpting, a skill he learnt on his own without attending any art school. He subsequently opened a school to teach and to pass on his knowledge to others.

Artist Prof. Dr Nicola Zammit (1815-1899) says that although wood is always difficult to work, Bonnici chose wood carving, and this medium did not inhibit in the least the expression of the power of his imagination.

At that time, the shipbuilding industry was located on the Senglea wharves overlooked by Corradino Heights. This maritime industry, using mainly wood, generated a great deal of work, and small businesses thrived on commissions by these shipbuilders.

Figureheads were in great demand. Bonnici quickly began to gain a good reputation with ship­owners who regarded him as a very skilled sculptor with a rare talent for producing these particular items. The fact that his workshop was in Senglea was an asset as shipowners and builders could get easy access to his business. Bonnici worked figureheads for various types of ships such as brigs, schooners, barques, and even large sailing coasters.

Historian Giovanni Faurè (1837-1922) says that, apart from his many designs and models, Bonnici carved over 150 figureheads to be affixed on ships’ bows on the cutwater or tagliamar just under the boom. The figurehead’s profile had to curve outward and its base purposely constructed so that it clasped well with the bow.

Figureheads were historically used on the naval ships in the belief that those icons had strong magical or religious significance, and aimed to show the wealth and might of the owner. However, their popularity ended with the disappearance of wooden vessels.

On January 1, 1859, Bonnici was appointed Master of Linear Drawing at Senglea Primary School, with an annual salary of £25, which was later increased to £30. He remained in office until his  untimely death.

Bonnici’s sacred works are, however, limited to some sketches and statues. While mythological figures enthused anyone who looked at them, his sacred images were an expression of the grandeur of Christian faith. His statues seem like a portrait of an inspiration whereby every stroke with a gouge resembled a heartbeat. His works are only found in Senglea, Cospicua and Vittoriosa.

In 1841, at the age of 20, and under the direction of Senglea-born artist Tommaso Madiona (1803-1864), he worked on the statue of Our Lady of Doctrine. In time, this statue was transformed into that of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Stylistically, it has particular features, typical to Bonnici’s repertoire, particularly in the representation of the face of the Virgin Mary. This statue, which used to be carried in procession in honour of Our Lady of Mount Car­mel on the Sunday following July 16, is today kept in a niche in the sacristy of Senglea parish church.

At the age of 18, Bonnici started sculpting, a skill he learnt on his own without attending any art school

During the first week of September when Senglea celebrates the titular feast of the Bambina, the streets of the city are adorned with traditional decorations. Among these embellishments, in Victory Street, and right in front of the band club, a Gothic stage, designed by Bonnici in 1847, used to be set up for the band.

In December 1851, Bonnici worked on the frame of the titular painting of Senglea’s collegiate which showed the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, painted by Tommaso Madiona in 1850.

Bonnici’s most important contribution to the ecclesiastical decorative arts was the antependium that he designed for the old high altar of Senglea’s collegiate and which today adorns the altar of the Oratory of the Holy Crucifix during the titular feast in September. This antependium, funded through contributions donated by the faithful, was realised by silversmith Paolo Busuttil in 1865. Brothers Paul and Chalcidon Busuttil, the best silversmiths of the time, were paid the sum of £343 for this work. Bonnici might not have seen the completed work as he died earlier in that year.

Incidentally, this commission ended up in court. The lawsuit centred around the Busuttils’ failure to deliver the work by the stipulated date of September 1, 1860, which was agreed in the contract drawn up in the acts of notary Salvatore Ellul on April 9, 1860.

For Cospicua’s collegiate church, Bonnici carved two pairs of angels. The first, made in 1854, were two worshiping angels depicting Innocence and Virtue, funded by Fr Carmelo Azzopardi, a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Crucifix. In May 1858, these pair of angels were praised for the finesse in their work while being displayed at the Biblioteca, Valletta, during an exhibition organised by the Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce.

These two angels form part of the tableau of the Adoration of the Holy Cross, better known as Santu Kruċ. The cross mounted between these two kneeling angels was carved in ebony in 1882 by Master Paul Bugeja (1840-1906) from  Victoria, Gozo, following a design prepared by Senglea-born artist Aristide Bonnici, Vincenzo’s son.

The gilt-wood processional pedestal, which supports this sculptural group, should also be ascribed to Vincenzo Bonnici. Although no documentation has as yet been found to support this, there is a very close stylistic proximity to the antependium mentioned above. Bonnici’s invention is especially clear in the application of Gothic Revival motifs which inhabit the frieze area in the form of three-foils. The design is simple and straightforward and is more visually coherent than the Senglea antependium.

Two other angels, which emerged from the tender strokes of Vincenzo Bonnici’s chisel, are those made to hold the canopy under which the statue of the Immaculate Conception is placed when exposed in the church during the first week of December. These angels were carved in 1862.

Another statue that he sculpted was that of Our Lady of the Rosary which, to this day, is revered in the church of the Annunciation administered by the Dominican friars in Vittoriosa. Completed in 1864, this statue is of great artistic value, and has a good composition where one senses an inspiration approaching the Nazarene style.

In this work, which was probably Bonnici’s last, the sculptor came up with an innovative idea. Instead of holding the child Jesus in her arms, as in most statues, Bonnici made the child stand in front of the Madonna, while placing her hand on His shoulder.

This statue was displayed in another exhibition held by the Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce in Valletta in May 1864. For the great merit of the work involved, it ranked among the best exhibits and Bonnici was awarded a gold medal.

Alas, Bonnici had to face a pitiful end. When he was still at his best, adversity took its toll on his fruitful intellect. His mental faculties became disordered and, the visions of genius were altered by the dreams of dementia. It was  really unfortunate.

Bonnici’s health deteriorated rapidly, and on August 12, 1865, aged 44, he breathed his last. After a modest funeral, he was buried in Senglea collegiate church.

Everyone felt the grief of this untimely death. Without doubt, this loss was largely borne by Anna, his widow, and by the young Aristide, his only son out of their eight children who survived… because the others had all died in the cradle.

The Maltese artistic field of mid-19th century had already suffered vacuums with the death of Michele Busuttil (1831), Vincenzo Hyzler (1849), Pietro Paolo Caruana (1852), Salvatore Busuttil (1854), Giuseppe Hyzler (1858) Giovanni Farrugia (1861) and Tommaso Madiona (1864). Bonnici’s death augmented this void.

Vincenzo Bonnici, the sculptor who carved wooden figures that decorated and gave identity to the ships of his time, created a sufficient output of religious sculpture in his short life to ensure that his name and artworks would survive him. The name of this skilled sculptor is etched among those of so many other personalities whose work was a tribute to Malta and an honour to Senglea, the city that gave them birth.