On the Caravaggio trail

If one cannot mention Malta without thinking of the Knights of St John, likewise, one cannot talk of the knights without mentioning Caravaggio.

That giant of an artist, whose volatile temperament coloured his paintings as it did his life, came to Malta 400 years ago, this year.

Lawrence Gowing describes Caravaggio as the most powerful single influence in transforming the ideal styles of the 16th century into the bitter awareness of the reality of everyday life that haunted the subsequent age.

"...the essence of his innovation was the brutal simplicity of the act of painting from life. If his method was life painting, his subject was death" (Paintings In The Louvre, 1987, London: Thames and Hudson Ltd). Heritage Malta has put together a programme of activities to underscore the contribution to the art world by this great master of the chiaro scuro.

One of the extensive undertakings by Heritage Malta is the restoration and conservation of the paintings by artists who applied the style and technique of the grand master himself. These painters are known as Caravaggist artists or Caravaggisti. Among these are Valentin de Boulogne, Matthias Stomer, Mattia Preti and, to a lesser degree, Giulio Felice Cassar known as Cassarino.

Works by Stomer, the Dutch painter, are exhibited at a whole list of museums ranging from the Hermitage, in St Petersburg, to the National Gallery, in London, and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.

Once the paintings by the Caravaggisti at the National Museum of Fine Arts, in Valletta, are restored, they will be displayed in an ambience that is more sympathetic to the paintings and in a manner that allows visitors to appreciate their magnificence. The project manager in charge of this transformation at the museum is Martin Spiteri, from Heritage Malta.

Mario Buhagiar, in The Iconography Of The Maltese Islands: 1400-1900, notes that Preti's impact on the subsequent development of painting in Malta was tremendous. His work, the author says, continued to dominate the local artistic scene throughout the remaining period of the knight's rule.

Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632) spent his working life in Rome. "In all his works, the same models seem to reappear: Models who, following the example of Caravaggio, are taken from daily life but whom Valentin endows with a melancholy and a dignity that are all his own. This still and solemn world... is the noblest and most classical reinterpretation of Caravaggio's precepts" (Larousse Dictionary of Painters (1989); London: Hamlyn).

The full-length portrait of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt in his famous black and gold armour housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, in Valletta, is attributed to Cassarino.

Heritage Malta plans to raise funds for this extensive project by organising a Caravaggio trail and, shortly, through a concert by Claire Baluci at Heritage Malta's Conservation Division in Bighi against the breathtaking backdrop provided by the Grand Harbour.

Called Tribute To A Master, the concert will be held on June 23 at 9 p.m. The programme will include two choirs, dancers and projections of some of Caravaggio's masterpieces.

Tickets sell for Lm8 and Lm5 from www.maltaticket.com or from the Heritage Malta's head office in Merchants Street, Valletta.