The building of the new capital city on Mount Sciberras translated into a period of great economic prosperity for Malta’s inhabitants in the first half of the 17th century.
This economic prosperity percolated to every sector of the Maltese economy. Therefore, when Bishop Cagliares, during his last pastoral visit to the Qormi parish, remarked that most of the altars in the main apse were without a dedication, the parish priest immediately knew whom to turn to, to take up the care of the vacant altars and commission new altarpieces – the guilds.
The stonemasons and carpenters were the first to take up the offer – the former commissioned a painting representing St Thomas (by Filippino Dingli), while the latter commissioned an Italian artist to execute an altarpiece representing the Holy Family for their altar. The local farming community did not shy away from the challenge and immediately took over the altar on which Our Lady of Itria was venerated.
The building of new churches and palaces in the new capital and in the outlying villages generated enough commissions to entice a number of Italian painters to set up their bottega in Malta. Painters such as Bartolomeo Amodeo from Perugia, best known for his Ta’ Pinu Assumption (1619), Gaspare Formica, Lucas Killian and later Lucas Garnier, were competing with Maltese-born artists such as Filippino Dingli, Valerio Failla and Francesco Doneo for such commissions.
In view of such a plethora of artists, the Qormi farming community were spoilt for choice when it came to commissioning a new painting for their altar. The choice fell on Silvestro Querio, a painter from Rome who had settled in Malta. Querio seems to have enjoyed quite a good reputation, especially with high-ranking knights such as the Knight Mandosio Mandosi.
On March 11, 1646, Pietro Farrugia, Pietruccio Cardona and Agostino Caruana, as procurators of the altar, and on behalf of the Qormi farming community, entered into an agreement with the artist for the commissioning of a painting representing St Pancrazio and St Isidoro. Notary Michele Rull published the contract, with Baron Ioseph Gensolen and Nicola Bencini as witnesses.
The parties agreed that Querio was to receive the sum of ten golden uncie, to be paid in two instalments. The first payment was effected on April 16, 1646. The painting was installed on the altar by August of that same year, since a note in Notary Rull’s deed states that the second and final payment was settled on August 13, 1646.
The painting can be construed as an invocation for divine protection, so that the economic prosperity the local farming community was experiencing at the time of commissioning would continue in the near future. The painting is dominated by the figures of St Isidoro (left) and St Pancrazio (right).
St Isidoro, the saint invoked by farmers, is represented in the traditional iconography of a farmer, performing the miracle of striking a rock with his ox-goad from which water gushes. In the background, an angel leading an ox-driven plough – another reference to a miracle attributed to the saint and an integral part of the iconography of St Isidoro.
The painting can be construed as an invocation for divine protection, so that the economic prosperity the local farming community was experiencing would continue in the near future
St Pancrazio, in the Catholic tradition the intercessor for good health and prosperity, holding the palm frond of martyrdom, invokes the protection of Christ the Saviour dominating the upper part of the composition. Supported by clouds and peeking cherubs, Christ the Saviour heeds the invocation by St Pancrazio, and with his blessing gesture is symbolically granting divine protection to the farming community.
This religious painting bears witness to Querio’s watered-down Mannerist style, which is heavily steeped in a vernacular expression. Nonetheless, such an altarpiece would have more than satisfied the devotional needs of the agricultural community back then. This symmetrical arrangement of the main protagonists in the foreground, set against a distant scene, in this case a rural landscape, is typical of altarpieces dating to the first half of the 17th century in Malta’s village parish churches and chapels.
Querio’s painting adorned the altar for just over a century, until around the year 1760, when the Confraternity of Our Lady of Consolation commissioned a new altarpiece. Querio’s painting was transferred to the church’s old sacristy where it adorned one of the walls until 1934. In 1935, the painting was transferred to the sacristy of the Tal-Ħlas chapel, to be brought back to the main church complex in 1989. Unfortunately, water seepage and high humidity led to a dramatic deterioration of the painting, which was on the verge of irreparable loss.
The painting as photographed prior to treatments using transmitted light. Photo: Manuel Ciantar/Suzanne Ciantar Ferrito
Details of the painting prior to treatments. Photo: Manuel Ciantar/Suzanne Ciantar Ferrito
Shrinkage and movement of the canvas support, due to water seepage, were manifested as wave-like deformations seen in all the layers comprising the oil-on-canvas painting. Consequently, significant areas of the rigid preparation (gesso) and paint layers flaked off, resulting in a loss of circa 30 per cent of the original composition. Such loss became evident by the use of transmitted light, whereby a light source was projected on the back of the painting, which in turn was photographed from the front.
The state of the painting was further aggravated by past amateurish treatments. The textile patches that were found on the verso of the canvas to conceal tears, together with the presence of organic glues applied by past restorers, were increasingly contributing to physical distortions within the painting’s strata and ultimately were affecting the readability of the painted composition.
The appalling state of Querio’s historic painting has spurred the Brotherhood of Saint Michael (Fratellanza ta’ San Mikiel) to obtain the necessary funding to save this artwork – a conservation and restoration project which was entrusted to Amy Sciberras Conservators – Fine Arts Restoration back in 2021. The journey of its salvage and conservation was arduous and complex, and started within St George’s parish museum itself.
Numerous paint flakes, which were barely in contact with the supporting canvas, had to be stabilised prior to the transportation to the conservation laboratory. A specific consolidant was applied in situ, using fine small brushes and syringes until the hundreds of paint fragments were temporarily stabilised, thus enabling handling and translocation of the canvas painting.
Local consolidation of paint flakes and the application of Japanese paper to the paint layer ensured that this could be handled during treatments. Photos: Amy Sciberras Conservators
Once at the conservation laboratory, further stabilisation treatments were carried out, and the thick layers of grime, which were covering the painted surface and contributing to its appalling state, were cleaned using specific procedures and conservation tools. These treatments were followed by the thinning down of overpaint and past retouchings, in the process uncovering more of the original where this had survived the harsh conditions to which it was exposed during the years.
During infilling of losses in the ground/paint layers and their chromatic integration. Photos: Amy Sciberras Conservators
Further treatments carried out included the complete lowering of physical distortions and deformations, the removal of past interventions and glues, which were found at the back of the canvas, the alignment under magnification of cut threads from canvas tears, their repair and reinforcement, and the application of a secondary canvas support to the treated original one. These conservation treatments ensured the salvage and stabilisation of Querio’s historical painting.
The final phase focused on restoring its full legibility through the infilling and chromatic integration of losses, hence bringing back its aesthetic character while respecting its integrity, nature and meaning. This ensured that it could now be displayed, studied and enjoyed by the present and future community.
Acknowledgements
This conservation-restoration project was entrusted to Amy Sciberras Conservators by Fratellanza ta’ San Mikiel from St George parish church, Qormi, and coordinated by Joseph A. Bugeja. It was made possible through EU funding under the Rural Development Programme for Malta 2014-2020 and the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector under the NGO Co-Financing Fund.
Amy Sciberras thanks her team, including photographers Manuel Ciantar and Suzanne Ciantar Ferrito, Michael Formosa for manufacturing the new stretcher frame, Bernadine Scicluna with whom the painting was discussed, and all involved.
Authors
Amy Sciberras directs a team of conservators and has been entrusted with restoration projects of national and international importance. One may contact her via the website www.amysciberras.com or e-mail info@amysciberras.com.
Joseph Anthony Bugeja is a certified public accountant active in the management of EU-funded projects by voluntary organisations and has authored a number of articles of a socio-cultural nature.