Painter and Architect
Considered as the first exponent of the neo-classic movement in architecture in Malta, Pullicino was an excelent water colourist.
The son of Pietro Paolo and Clara née Azzarillo, Giorgio Pullicino the architect and painter was born in Valletta. From an early age he showed a strong inclination towards drawing. His father sent him to a private school of design, run by Michele Busuttil. At the age of fifteen, through his father’s pleadings with some influential members of the Order of St John, he was sent to Rome to study art at the Academy of St Luke.
For most of the time that Pullicino was in Rome, between 1794 and 1800, the whole of the Italian peninsula was in political turmoil. In 1796 Napoleon’s troops entered Italy along the coast.
As soon as Pullicino arrived in Rome in 1794, he applied for and gained admission to the Accademia. Also studying there at the same time were two other Maltese young men, Massimo Gauci and Benedetto Ittar. Pullicino began to attend regularly lessons in anatomy and drawing in 1795, and took part for the first time in the Concorso del Nudo of the summer semester in September 1797. He drew the subject - a fully draped male figure in a walking position - with impressive skill, and carried the first prize in his class, while in the Accademia, Pullicino won two other concorsi, in March and in September 1799, and another in March 1800.
During his six-seven years in Rome at the Accademia di San Luca, Pullicino had the occasion to meet the greatest artists of the time, either at the Accademia itself, or in the many art circles in Rome where he was accepted everywhere despite his young age.
Pullicino, along with all foreign residents in Rome, was denied the assistance and protection normally provided by embassies and diplomatic representations to their nationals immediately after the entry of Napoleon’s troops in Rome. While in Rome Pullicino suffered the death of his father Pietro Paolo in July 1799. Pullicino left Rome in the summer of 1800 and arrived in Malta in the first week of September. He left Rome with new ideas and high hopes for his future career. In Malta he discovered that the state of the arts in Malta was one of general stagnation. Between 1798 and 1800 - the years of the French occupation, new buildings in Malta had naturally come to a complete standstill. On his arrival in Malta, Pullicino went to live with his mother Clara in Valletta. At the age of 28 he married Vincenza Attard, ten years his junior, in April 1807.
Pullicino soon attracted the attention of Mgr F. X. Caruana, the Rector of the University. He called Pullicino to assist Michele Busuttil as lecturer in drawing and painting at the UM. Pullicino was appointed by the King’s Civil Commissioner as Professor of Drawing and Architect at the University of Literature. Pullicino had accepted the University post offered to him not only for the remuneration, however small, but because he saw in it an opportunity of seeing his burning wish become a reality - to contribute towards the progress of fine arts in Malta.
Pullicino’s special capabilities as teacher of architecture were recognized by the University when in 1834 the School of Design was separated in two distinct classes: applied drawing and architecture.
In order to supplement his meagre salary, and so support his wife and seven children, Pullicino produced a large number of pen and wash drawings, water colours and oil-paintings which he sold, mostly to foreign visitors. Some of his works were sold to British army and naval officers, who wanted to take them home. Most of these works represent, scenes of Valletta, the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett.
In 1830 Pullicino qualified as perito agrimensore. The only work by Pullicino which historical evidence preserves, is the monument to Capt. Spencer of the Royal Navy, originally erected on Corradino Hill in 1831, and later moved to Blata l-Bajda in 1893. A monument which is attributed to Pullicino is the Monument to Sir Alexander Ball in the Lower Barracca. Another work attributed to Pullicino is the Portico of the Main Guard, in St George’s square, Valletta, as well as the doorway of the University building in St Paul’s Street in Valletta.
Pullicino was also a devoted patriot, and was the representative of the Maltese body of architects, and one of the principal signatories of a petition placed before the Royal Commission on the Affairs of Malta in 1836.
After his retirement from Government service in 1839, Pullicino continued to work in his private studio for another three years. But he was struck by an illness, which for the remaining eight years of his life confined him to his home. He died at his residence in Valletta, and was survived by his wife Vincenza and his four sons and two of his daughters.
This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.