St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, and its adjoining museum, are reckoned to be a veritable treasure house of artistic objects, which include, inter alia, works by world-famous artists such as Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), Mattia Preti (1613-99) and Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1646-1725). The Flemish tapestries on permanent exhibition at the museum are among the objects considered to be priceless works of art. They arrived in Malta in February 1702, probably on the 7th, and thus are the subject of this month’s monthly anniversary story.

Grand Master Ramon Perellós y Roccaful (1697-1720), the donor of the tapestries, as he is featured in one of them. Photo: St John’s Cathedral Chapter & Foundation

“Motivated by a keen sense of duty as well as by devotion, Grand Master Fra Ramon Perellós y Roccaful paid from his own pocket for the tapestries and arras that were masterly manufactured in Belgium to embellish the Major Conventual Church of the Gerosolimitan Order of Malta dedicated to St John the Baptist.” So reads an entry in a volume of the Archives of the Order of St John housed at the National Library of Malta, and which is, possibly, the only recorded reference to the origin of the tapestries. These, incidentally, were also the subject of four issues of commemorative postage stamps between 1977 and 1980, which included a portrayal of the donor himself, born in 1637, who ruled over the Order and the Maltese islands from 1697 till his death in 1720.

It has been traditionally held that Perellós had thought about donating a set of tapestries to St John’s years earlier. He had discussed the project a number of times with the painter Mattia Preti, and it is also said that Preti travelled to Belgium at Perellós’s behest and expense to meet manufacturers of Flemish tapestries.

But why Flemish tapestries? Because Flemish art was then at its zenith in Europe. Royal courts and aristocratic castles all included impressive wall `hangings, and many a nobleman secured the services of the best artisans to be found in Paris or Brussels. Ramon Perellós was no exception to this ‘new craze’ and, like many contemporaries, believed that the best way to transfuse new ideas was by means of this new art.

Ramon Perellós believed the best way to transfuse ideas was by means of this new art

Like Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-83), the great minister of the French monarch Louis XIV (the Sun King), Perellós held that “the health of a society was manifest in the state of its art”. He believed it was more profitable to spend money on the arts than on ships (though Perellós did institute the Order’s ships-of-the-line squadron) and he thought this would help revive the Order’s waning prestige. It is a fact that the magnificent set of 29 Flemish tapestries, later supplemented by another different set for the Magisterial Palace, caught the imagination of European monarchs and helped keep Malta on the social and political map of Europe.

Each new incumbent to the Magistracy was expected to donate a costly gift to the conventual church, known as the gioia. This set of tapestries was Perellós’ gioia to his Order and its conventual, or main, church. Woven in Brussels by Judecos de Vos, each piece bears the words “Judecos de Vos” or “J.D.S.”, together with the hallmarks of Brussels and the coat-of-arms of Grand Master Perellós, as if to leave no doubt who the donor was.

The set cost Perellós no less than 40,000 Roman scudi and took almost four years to complete after they had been ordered in 1698. The work could only be carried out in such a comparatively short time because the De Vos organisation employed hundreds of out-cottage workers who wove small sections which were then assembled together and sewn into complete scenes.

Conventual chaplain Rev. Jean-Baptiste Brix was in charge of the transportation of the tapestries from Belgium. When they arrived in Malta in February 1702, there was general rejoicing, and Brix was publicly thanked and rewarded with a golden jewelled cross.

Obviously, the choice of the themes for the Order’s conventual church were religious. After all, one of the main reasons behind the actual existence of the Order was none other than the defence of the Catholic Church. So what better subjects than ideas relating to the triumph of the Church of which Perellós was not only a member, but the actual head of one of its religious orders?

Mattia Preti was the master planner of the internal decoration of St John’s, and being a knight himself, he could not but agree. For Preti, only the baroque idiom could complement the grandeur of the Order, and it was this master painter who most probably tendered the advice to commission the new tapestries to the De Vos workshops in Brussels.

Portrait of Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). The majority of the tapestries are based on his artistic works. Photo: Google Art Project

One must here bear in mind the fact that Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) dominated Flemish art at the time. His style, inspiring and well-attuned to church decoration, helped Preti to decide on the cartoons required. Use was also made of one of the works of the French artist Nicholas Poussin (1594-1665), while the figure of Perellós was probably the work of Preti himself who, however, did not live to see the finished product arrive in Malta. Rubens and Poussin had passed away a number of years before.

Altogether, the set is divided into 12 large tapestries each measuring 6.1 metres square, and another 14 smaller pieces each measuring 1.83 metres by 6.7 metres. Another three pieces are roughly the size of two smaller tapestries. The large works were hung over the arches leading to the side chapels of the langues, while 12 of the smaller ones covered the intervening pilasters. The remaining five pieces adorned the area above the main door of the church. In this way, the tapestries completely covered the upper part of three sides of the nave of St John’s.

Each tapestry has an elaborately designed border, typically baroque, which fits in with the interior decoration of St John’s. Five of the larger tapestries depict scenes from the life of Jesus Christ while the other five are allegories.

Each piece had its particular placing as follows:

• on the right-hand side, as the viewer looks at the main altar, and starting from the chancel: Time; St Paul; The Triumph of the Catholic Church; The Blessed Virgin Mary; The Institution of the Feast of Corpus Christi; St James the Major; The Crucifixion; St Thomas; The Entry into Jerusalem; St Philip; The Nativity; St Matthew.

The Raising of the Cross. This magnificent triptych by Peter Paul Rubens was the painting on which a similar scene was woven as a tapestry for St John’s conventual church, now a co-cathedral, Valletta, Malta. It is exhibited at Antwerp Cathedral, Belgium, for viewing by the public.

The Raising of the Cross as depicted on one of the large tapestries at St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum, Valletta. Photo: St John’s Cathedral Chapter & Foundation

• on the left-hand side: The Destruction of Idolatry; St Peter; The Triumph of Faith; Jesus Christ; Christian Charity; St Andrew; The Resurrection; St John; The Last Supper; St James the Minor; The Adoration of the Magi; St Bartholomew.

The Triumph of Charity, one of the large allegorical tapestries at St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum, Valletta. Courtesy: St John’s Cathedral Chapter & Foundation

The large tapestry depicting the allegory of The Triumph of the Catholic Church at St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum, Valletta. Photo: St John’s Cathedral Chapter & Foundation

• over the front door: the centre panel depicts Perellós himself between the two allegories of Charity and Victory over the Muslims; it is flanked by representations of The Four Evangelists, St Simon, St Jude Thaddeus and The Annunciation.

The large tapestry depicting The Last Supper. Courtesy: St John’s Cathedral Chapter & Foundation

The Resurrection of Christ as depicted on one of the large tapestries at St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum. Photo: St John’s Cathedral Chapter & Foundation

These Flemish tapestries were mercifully spared when the French took Malta and carried away various treasures in 1798, probably because they were interested only in silver and gold objects, together with precious stones, that could be sold or converted into specie. However, neglect and the ravages of time took their toll, with consequent damage. In 1878, they underwent restoration for the first time and were saved from destruction.

The latest restoration started to be undertaken recently; by 2008, two tapestries were restored, and St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation aimed to restore two items each year. These priceless tapestries are now much better appreciated by all and sundry, and can be viewed, together with other works of art, at St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum.

The Flemish tapestries at St John’s are truly a magnificent heritage which convey two messages to the onlooker: spiritual and artistic. Indeed, “the church’s crowning glory”, as they have been so aptly described, are certainly “a sermon in tapestry” whose “style and vivacity of colour agree so admirably with the general character of the ornamentation of the church, that the effect of their exhibition cannot be easily described”.

Joseph F. Grima is a retired casual history lecturer and assistant director of education.