Two Flemish tapestries regain their splendour

Another two Flemish tapestries from the unique set of 29 in St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum, Valletta, have been shipped to Belgium for restoration, while another two have returned in full splendour.

The restoration of the entire set of tapestries is expected to last at least eight years and cost in the region of €1 million.

The Last Supper and The Crucifixion are being restored at the De Witt Royal Manufacturers of Tapestries laboratories on the initiative of St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation as part of its conser-vation plan.

Tapestries depicting The Triumph of Faith and Time Unveiling Truth were returned to Malta following a year-long restoration intervention in Belgium.

Their return has brought the number of tapestries restored up to six, continuing the restoration effort that began in 2006 when The Triumph of the Catholic Church and The Portrait of Grand Master Perellos were sent to Belgium.

It was then the turn of two other tapestries – The Triumph of Charity, the restoration of which was sponsored by the King Baudouin Foundation in Belgium, and The Institution of Corpus Christi – to be shipped for restoration.

The project is being carried out with the assistance of the Belgian government, which provided special air transport, thanks to the cooperation of the Belgian Ministry of Defence and the Belgian Ambassador to Malta, Jean Francois Delahaut.

The set of tapestries was ordered from the Brussels atelier of Judocus de Vos, renowned as court weaver to Louis XIV, and was based on cartoons by Peter Paul Rubens, with the exception of The Last Supper, which was based on a painting by Nicolas Poussin.

The collection was a gift to the co-cathedral by the Aragonese Grand Master Ramon Perellos y Roccaful in 1697.

Lack of appropriate space and lighting in the co-cathedral museum does not allow the foundation to display the whole set of tapestries.