‘Gagini Madonna’ was commissioned in 1504, 26 years before the Knights of the Order of St John came to Malta

Detail of existing pigment on the effigy.

An Italian Renaissance white Carrara marble statue portraying the Madonna holding the Christ Child, which was commissioned 26 years before the arrival of the Knights of  the Order of St John in Malta and which was situated behind the main altar of the church of Santa Maria di Gesù (or Ta’ Ġieżu), in Rabat, has started undergoing much needed conservation and restoration.

Known as the Gagini Madonna, the statue was commissioned on February 23, 1504,in Messina, directly from the then 26-year-old Palermitan sculptor Antonello Gagini (1478–1536), purposely for the newly-built church of Ta’ Ġieżu, in Rabat dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin, which was constructed in the late 1490s.

The white marble Renaissance sculpture of the Madonna holding the Child in her left arm is a very important artefact not only for being the oldest in the possession of the Observant Franciscan Order of Friars Minor in Malta but also as it is the much-venerated object that gave the church its name, Santa Maria di Gesù, and which Grand Master Fra Philippe Villiers de L’Isle Adam worshipped during his many stays with the Franciscans.

The statue was commissioned together with a marble pedestal that today survives in the national collection, at MUŻA,  in Valletta. The pedestal has carved reliefs showing the stigmatisation of St Francis on the front and flanking it are two three-quarter length figures of St Francis and the patron saint of the Maltese islands, St Paul.

This project, which consists of photographic documentation, scientific analysis, cleaning, conservation and restoration entrusted to Prevarti Ltd, was made possible by the Observant Franciscan Order’s collaboration with Charlene Vella from the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Malta and thanks to funds obtained from the Majjistral Action Group Foundation under the LEADER Programme 2014-2020, specifically, Measure 1: Restoration of Assets and Sites of Artistic and Cultural Value.

A 3D scan of the marble sculpture being carried out.

Vella explains how a 1504 document lists all the details related to this commission.

“The sculpture of the Madonna was to hold the Christ Child in her left arm and a flower in her right hand, which is today lost  along with several of the fingers on this same hand. More damage has been sustained to the sculpture at an unknown point in its 500-year history, such as chips to the folds on the Madonna’s mantle, the Child’s fingers on the blessing right hand being broken off and the Madonna’s head was completely detached from the rest of the sculpture and repaired with two metal rods.”

It is also the much-venerated object that gave the church its name, Santa Maria di Gesù

The removal of the statue from its niche at Ta’ Ġieżu church, in Rabat.

The same document also states that the sculpture was to be six palm tall (c. 138cm) and the pedestal another one palm in height (c. 23cm), for a total of c. 161cm.

Vella added: “The sculpture had to receive blue and gold pigment. While traces of several pigments have been noted on the side and back of the sculpture, upon cleaning these same areas, more pigment was discovered hidden beneath a layer of plaster. Surprisingly to the restorers and researchers, the cleaning also revealed blue stylised floral motifs on the Madonna’s mantle, which must have been gilded.”

Gilding was also discovered on the Madonna and Child’s hair. Moreover, a stylised floral design has emerged on the hemline of the Madonna’s mantle. This reveals that this sculpture was an elaborate one and that no expense was spared in its commission. In fact, the same document reveals that it was to cost 20 uncie.

The first Observant Franciscan sculpture of the Madonna and Child that Gagini had produced when he settled in Messina was that for Nicotera in Calabria,  in 1498. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that the Rabat sculpture is a variation of the Nicotera sculpture since they were both destined for Observant Franciscan churches.

A close-up of the broken fingers of the Child’s statue.

The Rabat Madonna and Child, however, is most similar to the sculpture by Gagini in Catanzaro (Calabria) that was commissioned nine months after the Maltese sculpture, also by Observant Franciscans, but in which the Child takes a fruit from the Madonna. Two other Observant Franciscan sculptures in the Duomo of Castroreale (1500-01, Province of Messina) and in the Santuario dell’Ecce Homo in Mesoraca (1504, Calabria) survive with indicative polychromy that provides an idea of how the Rabat sculpture originally looked.

After being removed from the church on September 15, 2020 and as part of the research and prior to the cleaning tests, the sculpture was subjected to intense photographic documentation, tests under UV and gamma rays as well as a 3D scan.

A detail of folds, border and remnant of gold pigment.

Vella and her team will, throughout the duration of this project, be further researching the sculpture, building on the research previously carried out by the late Fr George Aquilina and professors Hanno-Walter Kruft and Mario Buhagiar. Once all the work has been completed, it is hoped that the Madonna and Child sculpture can be returned to the second altar on the north aisle where it was intended to be placed after the 1757 reconstruction of the church.

Timmy Gambin, from the University of Malta Department of Classics and  Archaeology, has carried out the initial 3D scan of the marble sculpture that can be viewed online on https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/madonna-and-jesus-37038ff944ef4953bc049352c4a04b84 as well as on https://bit.ly/3qkOlgA.