An important 17th century painting found at St George’s basilica in Victoria has been conserved and restored by restorer Fr Charles Vella.

The painting (oil on canvas, 234cm by 161cm), featuring Jesus and Mary (Gesù Marija), is traditionally attributed to Alessio Erardi, but research is being conducted to determine if the painter is Alessio or Stefano Erardi. They were two 17th/18th century painters.

From studies of the preparatory layer and paint losses it appeared that the original canvas has a closed weave and made out of lines and hemp.

The canvas is in two pieces. The palette of the artist consisted of pigments such as yellow, red, green, blue, sepias, white and black.

The scientific investigations were conducted by professors Maria Letrizia Amadori and Gianluca Poldi from the University of Bergamo and the department of the University of Urbino.

The painting was urgently in need of restoration.

Many heavy overpaints and repainting interpretations were done by previous restorers. This needed thoroughly cleaning from heavy darkened varnishes, blooming from trapped humidity under the varnish and heavy overpaints. The canvas was also loose and deformed by bad stretching from previous old interventions.

The stretcher frame has been changed to a new modern expandable frame with modern technology.

The conservation and restoration treatments by Fr Vella brought back dramatically the polychromatic freshness and the beautiful composition of a painting done by one of the greatest Maltese artists of the 17th century.

The painting was given a final varnish layer with UV protection, reversible and non-yellowing.

Christian Attard was the historian for the project, while technical photography was by Manuel and Sue Chaintar.