Treasures of Malta

Edited by Giovanni Bonello, No. 85

Published by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti

Giuseppe Arcidiacono’s striking Still Life with Christmas Flowers, Books, and Candles on the cover of the latest issue of Treasures of Malta is more than a welcome reminder of our first normal Christmas after the two-year COVID hiatus.

The razing of the ‘French’ cemetery at Rabat, Gozo, in the mid-1950s was a great cultural loss for our medieval heritage. Of the 28 sculpted limestone funerary slabs that were affixed to its wall, only 14 have survived. And,  yet, these slabs had long teased the curiosity of experts as to what they stood for.

Thomas Freller, who has established himself as the most prolific author of accounts of visits to the island by foreign travellers, delves into its background and the various theories that were sprung about their origin. One popular theory attributed them to noble French dignitaries who died in Gozo in the 13th century. In the 18th century, they were seen as Masonic symbols derived from Templar history. A scholar saw representations of the Holy Grail in the sculpted chalices!

Arnold Cassola helps to bring out a fellow Maltese from the shadows of general forgetfulness: the ‘architettore’ Antonio Cassar, who built a reputation in the 17th century in Scicli, Sicily. In 1621, he is recorded as contributing to the building of the left wing of the church of Santo Matheo et Beato Guglielmo and to restore the Triangular tower overlooking the town. Not much is yet known about him, except for the reference to ‘Mastro Antonio Cassar, architettore della città l’Isola di Malta’.

The magnificent marble frontispiece on the main entrance to the Auberge d’Italie is one of the most flamboyant on the island and honours one of its principal benefactors, Grand Master Gregorio Carafa, whose bronze bust glories in its centre.

Sandro Debono investigates its background using new archival and bibliographical information. Designed by the young French artist Raymond La Fage, the façade was sculpted by the Senglean Giuseppe Casanova while the bust was cast by Geronimo Conte. It is traditionally held that the marble came from the lost temple of Proserpina at Mtarfa.

Mgr Edward Coleiro, founder of the Cathedral Museum in its present site.

Art critic Louis Laganà describes some of the unfamiliar sculptures of Ġanni Bonnici (1932–2019) who is much better known for his public large-scale monumental sculptures, including the Independence Monument at the Mall, in Floriana.

Bonnici moved from the academic rigidity in which he was trained to a more modernist approach. In these generally small works, he was free of the constraints of any patron and so could give free rein to his imaginative powers. His themes ranged from the archetypal female, maternity and the family to Maltese identity to the religious, the last being one of his great sources of inspiration.

Nicholas Joseph Doublet pays tribute to Mgr Edward Coleiro (1914–1996). All his students remember him for his fiery but fair character with a great love for Virgil, of whom he was a world authority. Malta owes him a great debt for his inspired decision to move the Cathedral Museum from the chapter room to the vacant building of the old seminary in Mdina. This vision he pursued with single-minded energy and, today, the museum has become the repository of a collection of artistic works second to none on the island.

One hopes that the respect shown by foreigners for our cultural heritage will one day wash on the local Taliban who seem intent to leave scorched earth behind them

Charles Debono, the curator of the National War Museum, gives an account of the island’s military vicissitudes from the Bronze Age to the fall of the Roman Empire in the west, a stretch of 3,500 years.

Debono notes that “the aspect of weapons and warfare have (sic) largely been left aside in previous studies” and aims to fill this neglected aspect in this and another subsequent contribution.

Daggers and axes belonging to the Tarxien Cemetery phase indicate the presence of warlike activities, which become more marked in the Borġ in-Nadur phase with its fortified settlements and in the Baħrija phase.

Medieval armorial bearings on the ‘French’ cemetery wall in Gozo.

Debono attributes the origin of the half-dozen surviving ‘Roman’ towers to the Punic period and puts forward Anthony Bonanno’s claim that they could have served as watch towers to defend the olive estates.

Guillaume Dreyfuss and Charlene Jo Darmanin write about the importance of transdisciplinary involvement from the outset to the completion of heritage projects. Reference is made to the local projects carried out at the Manoel Theatre and St Paul’s Anglican pro-cathedral and overseen by AP Valletta.

Robert Thake’s favourite object is a copy of Geronimo Marulli’s Vite de Gran Maestri , published in Naples in 1636, and previously owned by French magistrate François-Auguste de Thor who literally lost his head for being involved in a plot against Cardinal Richelieu.

In the first of a series that will shed light on drawings by artists active locally, Roger De Gaetano focuses on a preparatory sketch by Antoine Favray in a private collection. The work is the obvious early drawing for his well-known Portrait of a Maltese Noble Lady with her Grandson and is an excellent example of the artist’s skill at work in finishing a rapid preparatory work for later elaboration in his bottega.

On November 16, 1972, the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted and came into force four years later. Anthony Pace, the coordinator of Malta’s World Heritage Nomination Project, recalls its 50th anniversary and its active involvement on the protection of our unique cultural sites. New local candidates for inclusion in the World Heritage List are Mdina and the Cittadella.

One hopes that the respect shown by foreigners for our cultural heritage will one day wash on the local Taliban who seem intent to leave scorched earth behind them.

Giulia Privitelli reviews Christian Attard’s The Art of Dying Well: Visual Culture in Times of Piety and Plague. Malta 1675–1814, one of the outstanding books of the year, while Paul Xuereb contributes the highly useful subject index to the illustrations in the previous volume.

Cecilia Xuereb reviews the rich cultural scene, which is slowly but surely picking up following the COVID interlude, while Antonia Critien points out some upcoming calendar highlights for the next few months.