Treasures of Malta

Ed. Giovanni Bonello No. 82, Christmas 2021, Vol. 28, No. 1

Published by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti

The magnificent 17th-century coral monstrance from the museum of St John’s on the cover of the latest issue of Treasures of Malta is more than enough to tempt the reader to sample the goodies that lie inside. And what an exciting melange they prove to be, and what’s more, it comes with no health warnings!

Valletta-born Joseph Barth (1746-1818) achieved great fame in Vienna as an ophthalmologist. Close to the imperial court, he was appointed Emperor Joseph II’s personal physician and oculist. A professor of physiology, who resigned his university post at the age of 45, he opened a private clinic treating poor people for free. He became notorious for his eccentric behaviour, such as staying half-naked indoors even in genteel company and wearing strange clothes outdoors.

The marvellously rakish Dr Barth

Prolific German scholar Thomas Freller recalls this intriguing figure and his involvement in the sale of the famous Greek sculpture of Ilioneus, today the apple of the eye of the Glyptothek Museum in Munich, to Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria for 30,000 guilders; a great deal for the Maltese doctor, considering he had bought it some years previously for three guilders!

Jonathan Taylor-East’s favou­rite object is a beautiful 18th-century maiolica pharmaceutical jar, better known as an albarello, bearing the coat of arms of Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena and which has been in the family for generations. Originating from Caltagirone, it bears signs of use which, for the collector, makes it more precious as it testifies to its genuineness.

Gaetano Calleja’s King George III with Allegories of Melita and Brittania in the President’s Palace in Valletta may not always have received the recognition it deserves. Roger de Gaetano writes about this undervalued local artist who most probably even worked in the bottega of Antoine Favray.

The painting itself, commissioned in 1805 by Alexander Ball, is an overt political statement that bodes a happy relationship for Melita, with a kind and welcoming Great Britain, at a par with the king’s own British subjects.

De Gaetano compares the finished painting with a unique sketch, now in private hands, that attests to Calleja’s artistic competence and which, the author says, does not seem to have been influenced by Favray’s own sketches.

Sir Arturo Mercieca and family

Giovanni Bonello doffs his hat to Sir Arturo Mercieca (1878-1969), that unique legal colossus who became a household name even beyond our shores but whose life and career was dogged by unjust “political and penal persecution”.

He served as chief justice for 16 years until 1942 and distinguished himself by several judgments of public law, described by Bonello as “unequalled in quality and quantity”. No mean judgement coming from a personality who himself has done Malta proud in international fora.

Malta owes a great debt to Olof Frederick Gollcher, whose most generous bequests have found expression in the Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum. A collector of fine discriminating taste and an amateur researcher, he also had artistic aspirations. A member of the Roman circolo artistico known as the Confraternità della Pipa dedicated to art and joy and embracing a bohemian spirit, Gollcher was a fairly accomplished landscape artist.

Caroline Tonna discusses some of the paintings that are to be found in the museum and the use that Gollcher made of photo­graphs as aide memoires for his studio work. The unique Amalfitan coast was one of the artist’s main source on inspiration.

Tonna, the curator of the Mdina museum, is also the author of the forthcoming Fondazzjoni publication on the portrait photography of Maltese pioneering photographer Leandro Preziosi (1830-69), which promises to be a major cultural event of 2022.

The Bosio brothers also made significant cultural contributions. Giovanni Ottone, one of the fighters in the 1565 siege and a convicted murderer, illegitimately fathered Antonio, who is the pioneer of Christian archaeology. The younger Giacomo wrote the most detailed history of the Order, an inexhaustible source of information to scholars.

Prize-winning author Arnold Cassola discusses and analyses their less-known poetical output which was published in Venice in 1584. They include sonnet exchanges between the brothers, some of them lamenting Giacomo’s departure from Malta around 1577, as well as laudatory verses dedicated to Grand Master La Cassiere.

A 1602 version of Oretlius' map of Malta

Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570) is one of the more important cartographic publications. The first commercial attempt to produce a compilation of maps of the known lands, it went into 40 editions. The original 70 maps included a miniature one of Malta.

With the aid of lavish illustrations, Emanuel Chetcuti discusses some of these many editions directly inspired by Ortelius’ map, particularly as they refer to a number of important landmarks and events in the island. Indeed, the great number of Ortelius-inspired maps often means that they are among the first to light the fire for would-be collectors.

Giulia Privitelli concludes her three-part study of Verdala Palace by discussing the murals of the first floor. Grand Master Verdalle built his “pleasure dome” as a place for private relaxation away from the harbour conurbation. It is indeed a statement of the Order moving away from its glorious military past to the sophisticated elegance that civil and ecclesiastic authorities were displaying in contemporary Europe.

Gaetano Calleja King George III with the allegories of Mekita and Brittania

These paintings therefore stress the palace as the place where rest and peace can be enjoyed and the country itself may cherish divine providence thanks to the presence of a cardinal prince.

Cecilia Xuereb gives an excellent account of the development of opera in tiny Gozo where two international standard opera houses manage to grow and prosper literally within a stone’s throw from each other. The houses are a good example of how pika can sometimes have positive results. Eight years ago, a third association, the Gaulitanus Choir, has emerged to stage-worthy operatic productions.

All Treasures collectors will value the subject index to the illustrations by Paul Xuereb, as well as the index to the articles in the previous volume.