Painter and Lithographer
The son of Giuseppe and Maria Teresa née Marchett, Pietro Paolo was born in Valletta and was baptised at the parish church of Porto Salvo. Most probably Caruana initiated his studies with Michele Busuttil and Giorgio Pullicino. He received a good education and when the plague broke out in 1813 Caruana was appointed ‘Officiale di Barriera’ and Clerk of Permits, and served in this capacity between 15 July and the end of the year.
Caruana was sent to Rome to study art on a government scholarship together with Giuseppe Hyzler*. He left Malta on 19 February 1819 on board the ‘Nostra Signora del Carmelo’ to Civitavecchia. He was sent by Governor Maitland on the initiative of Mgr (later bishop) Francesco Saverio Caruana*, who was patron of the arts.
Months before leaving Malta, Caruana was commissioned by Maitland to paint two pictures to hang in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio at the Palace. One representing St George and the Dragon and the other recording St Michael’s triumph over Lucifer.
In Rome Caruana became a pupil and a close friend of Tommaso Minardi, who was godfather to Caruana’s eldest son, Raffaele*. Raffaele was born in Rome in 1829 and followed in his father’s footsteps.
After a short stay in Malta in August 1827, Caruana returned to Malta for good on 28 October 1827, accompanied by his wife, Ursola d’Andrè, whom he married in Rome, and his two sons Raffaele and Salvatore. Their daughter Maria Anna was born in Floriana in February 1828.
Caruana was appointed teacher of drawing at the Lyceum in November 1831. Soon after his return from Rome, Caruana exhibited a painting of St Paul’s Shipwreck executed for a church in Tripoli.
In November 1836 at a meeting held to elect members for the National Assembly, ‘Il Corpo delle Belle Arti del Disegno’ elected as their deputies: Michele Cachia, Giorgio Pullicino and Pietro Paolo Caruana. This shows that Caruana was held in high esteem by his fellow artists.
Caruana was the very first Maltese to have a lithograph machine and the first artist to print lithographs in Malta. But apart from pioneering lithography, Caruana made his mark as a painter and several pictures are to be found both in private and public collections.
His‘Collezioni di monumenti e lapidi sepolcrali’ (1838-1840) is considered as his magnum opus.
Pietro Paolo Caruana died suddenly on the 23 April 1852 survived by his second wife Maria Madiona and nine children. He was buried in the same church where he had been baptised – the Parish Church of Porto Salvo, Valletta.
This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.