The vibrant palette yet subdued polychromatic scheme of Giuseppe Calì’s paintings at Xagħra parish church were recently brought back to their pristine state following a programme of conservation and restoration.

The lateral paintings of The Immaculate Conception and The Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple, which adorn the walls above the choir stalls underwent deep interventions by restorer Manwel Zammit.

The paintings had a thick layer of soot and dirt accumulated along the years which had obscured the actual design and colourful palette of the artist.

Meanwhile, the restoration of the apsidal cap painting by Giuseppe Calì and the choir vault decorative scheme by Roman artist Virginio Monti were entrusted to the firm Atelier del Restauro and partly financed by European funds.

The grown-up Mananni Sultana, who posed as the infant Mary when still a toddler. Photo: Bajada family

Xagħra parish church boasts of a number of paintings by several Maltese artist painters executed since the 18th century. Some of them, like those by Francesco Vincezo Zahra and Rocco Buhagiar, used to adorn the side altars of the old church built at the end of the 17th century; others were mounted on the side altars in the second half of the 19th century after the building of the present church. Among the latter commissions one finds paintings by Giuseppe Bonnici, Antonio Falzon, Salvatore Barbara and Calì.

Calì’s paintings were installed in 1893 during the parish administration of Giuseppe Diacono to mark the church’s elevation to the status of archpresbyter. After 26 years, in 1919 Calì was again commissioned to execute the painting for the apsidal cap representing The Lord Has Possessed Me at the Beginning of His ways, Before Any Other Creature [Prov.8:22]. The painting is considered to be one of the largest apsidal cap ever executed by Calì.

Calì’s introduction to the Xagħra parish church artistic project was the result of a lack of understanding with the Gozo Cathedral Chapter

Calì’s introduction to the Xagħra parish church artistic project was the result of a lack of understanding with the Gozo Cathedral Chapter. On being invited to execute the pictorial embellishment of the Gozo Cathedral’s vault, Calì refused to abide by the Chapter’s insistence to have it executed in the fresco technique.

Giuseppe Calì. Photo: Private collection

Studies about Calì’s artistic life consistently found that he objected to painting in fresco, fearing that the stone forming the fabric of the church did not have the durability to secure the stability of the fresco. This was also insisted upon with the Xagħra clergy when the artist was asked to execute the painting in fresco. However, Calì did not give in, quoting as an example the problems that cropped up when Monti’s frescoes at the Birkirkara collegiate church started to show instability in the early 20th century.

Furthermore, Calì was saddened that his stint for the Cathedral church artistic project was not met with approbation. It was his wish to have a church ceiling painted with his vivid palette in the island of Gozo. So at the invitation of Xagħra parish priest Fr Maurizio Cauchi, he accepted wholeheartedly the commission for the pictorial decoration of the entire church main vault.

On presenting his artistic concept by means of a polychromatic bozzetto and on getting the fiat from the Xagħra clergy, a platform was installed above the main frame of the church choir vault in October 1919. Calì demanded that Gallucci’s extant apsidal painting on thick material be covered with several layers of white lead mixed with fine wood powder. It is not yet established when he actually started the work but the painting of the apsidal cap was brought to a successful conclusion in less than a year.

A number of anecdotes abound about Calì’s brief sojourns in Xagħra over a period of several months while executing the apsidal painting. When he came to Xagħra from Malta he was regularly accompanied by his Gozitan friend, the statuarian Agostino Camilleri. Sometimes Calì stayed at the residence of his son-in-law, the lawyer Luigi Camilleri, in Victoria, or in a house in the square in front of the Xagħra church.

The lateral choir painting Immaculate Conception. Photo: Charles Spiteri

Sometimes, as happened in Malta, Calì made use of locals as models for his figures for the painting of the Xagħra apsidal cap. Some people still recall accounts by their ascendants about Calì drawing facial details of them to be included in the painting.

For instance, the face and posture of the infant Mary was copied from an actual infant of the same age, Mananni Sultana, as requested by Calì. She was brought over to the church sacristy by the infant’s mother who found Calì waiting for her with a piece of carbon and paper in hand.

The required pose was achieved by hanging a honey ring above the infant. The infant’s gesticulations and stretching of arms to reach the honey ring were immortalised on the apsidal painting. In Agostino’s words, Calì painted the infant Mary and part of St Anne on site in one occasion. Other depicted figures such as St Michael the Archangel, St Anne and some of the celestial angels were also inspired by local persons and others who came from Malta on purpose.

The figures were all drawn by Calì’s dexterous hand, first on paper and eventually developed and enlarged either by the help of perforated sheets or drawn on situ. Contrary to what has been stated in some published material about Calì’s Xagħra project, no camera or photos were ever used.

Were it not for some unjustified insistence from the locals, Calì would have embarked on painting the entire vault of the church. It was rumoured that he envisaged an artistic scheme running from one side to the other of the plain barrel surface bereft of any decorative stucco.

The decorative pictorial complex of the church choir vault. Photo: Charles Spiteri

However, even when the parish priest implored Calì to carry on with the pictorial decoration following the unveiling of the apsidal painting, Calì refused. Calì was paid £100 for the painting and presented with a silver dinner service by the parish on the day of the unveiling of apsidal cap painting.

The unwarranted attitude of some of the locals towards Calì’s presumed slow progress to finish the painting might have been a pretext to stop him and to lay the ground for the introduction of the service of a foreign artist. This might have been the case taking into consideration that at this period of time Calì was facing stiff competition from foreign artists who were brought over to be commissioned with the decoration of ecclesiastical buildings. Some locals might have become influenced by the appeal of foreigners, whose works were seen as superior to those of local artists.

However, some months afterwards, Calì had a change of heart. Through extant correspondence it is recorded that on hearing that the Xagħra parish sought the services of artist Robert Caruana Dingli, Calì sent a letter to the incumbent parish priest entreating him to be commissioned again with the vault painting and that he would be assisted by his son Raffaele Ramiro Calì, who had already painted two side altar paintings some years back for the same church.

Were it not for some of unjustified insistence from the locals, Calì would have embarked on painting the entire vault of the church

The composition adopted by Calì for the painting is divided mainly in three parts. The centre of the upper level is occupied by the celestial heavens in its full glory, with the Eternal Father showing the empty throne destined to the bearer of His Son, the Virgin Mary. The lower level is composed of two sections: on the left, the prophets of the Old Testament, who wrote and heralded the coming of Mary, and on the right, the family of St Anne and St Joachim, flanked by the Archangels St Michael and St Gabriel.

The apsidal cap painting. c 1920. Photo: Noel Vella

Furthermore, foreseeing that the interior stone sculpture would someday be gilded, Calì demanded that the stone carved base running under the apsidal cap would have some detailed features chipped away so that the view of the painting would remain unhampered to the attention of the spectator.

The composition departs from the original idea of the bozzetto, as one can surmise on looking closely at the latter. The bozzetto served only as a groundwork impression to the artist’s idea of the eventual enlarged painting. This is mainly true of the Old Testament figures and parts of the celestial heavens, which depart substantially from the preliminary idea as far as composition and design are concerned, unlike the Holy Family on the right, which the artist upheld to the initial conceptual design.

The copious folds of drapery with which the figures are clothed is testament to the ingenuinity of Calì’s creative artistic mind. The figures’ facial expressions are in continuous conversations with each other, emanating the physical sensations of the joyous moment of the presence of the predestined child who was to bear the Sun of Justice.

The compositional and polychromatic pictorial manifestation of the apsidal cap painting shows the inventive ability and virtuosity of a great artist, as confirmed by Monti, who on being introduced to the painting by the Xagħra clergy, commented: “Dev’essere un gran maestro!”

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Giovanni Bonello and Caroline Tonna for information passed on during the research done for the article.

Aaron Attard-Hili is lawyer at the Office of the Judicial Assistant at the Courts of Law in Gozo. He is also a researcher in local history.

The 31 by 35cm bozzetto. Courtesy of Xagħra parish archive