Giuseppe Cassar retrospective exhibition

A retrospective exhibition of watercolour paintings by Giuseppe Cassar (1917-2002) has been inaugurated at the Wignacourt Collegiate Museum in Rabat. Curator Mgr John Azzopardi welcomed the numerous guests and thanked Mr Cassar's children, for organising the event at such a historical venue, as this 17th century building had served as the residence of the chaplains of the Order of St John, who used to officiate at St Paul's Grotto.

Art critic George Glanville then made a presentation on Cassar's life and works, saying that the exhibition was a most fitting way to honour him. He outlined the artist's early drawings while he was interned in war-time Italy, his meeting and marriage to Alda Manghi of Reggio Emilia, taking over his father's photo studio in Hamrun, and his proliferation of watercolour paintings and later participation at solo and collective exhibitions after his retirement.

Mgr Charles J. Scicluna, Promoter of Justice at the Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke about Cassar's photographic and artistic expertise. He highlighted his 1962 photographic portrait of Dun Ġorġ Preca.

The original bearing Cassar's signature, and his embossing stamp on the passepartout, is also on display. He said that the same image was recently depicted in colour on the tapestry that was hung at St Peter's Basilica in Rome on June 3, when Pope Benedict XVI declared the Maltese priest a saint, and has also been replicated on holy pictures and other memorabilia of San Ġorġ Preca.

Mgr Scicluna then declared open the exhibition, which may be visited from Mondays to Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 3p.m. till December 7.