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Frans Ciappara (ed.), The Journal of Baroque Studies, Vol. 1 No. 3 (2015), International Institute of Baroque Studies University of Malta.

The third number of The Journal of Baroque Studies, the organ of the International Institute of Baroque Studies at the University of Malta, has more than kept the high standards set by its predecessors.

The eight selected papers by local and foreign scholars cover various aspects of this period of European culture which, in our case especially, has scored such deep marks on our artistic culture.

Of the eight papers, five indeed touch local topics and make of the journal a most valuable contribution to Melitensia. Two papers in particular focus on Malta’s Baroque jewel, the magnificent St John’s, the glorious feast for the eyes that leaves all visitors stunned by its sheer beauty.

Cynthia de Giorgio, the curator of the co-cathedral, writes about the fine set of 29 Perellos’ Gobelin tapestries at St John that we can alas today no longer admire in their proper setting in the nave but only in the museum.

Some depict scenes from the life of Christ and some triumphal allegorical representations of the Eucharist, the latter mostly based on cartoons by Peter Paul Rubens and are an important statement of the Church’s basic Counter-Reformation principles inspired by the Council of Trent.

The tapestries cover an astonishing 700 square metres (it took a skilled weaver a month to produce one square metre!) and are laid out in a sequence to proclaim salvation by means of the Eucharist expressed through the life of Christ.

De Giorgio gives an excellent account of how the tapestries were commissioned and how Perellos kept a close interest throughout the three years they were being woven.

Theresa Vella discusses the St Michael altarpiece in the chapel of Provence in St John’s.

This, the first baroque painting to find its way into the conventual church, is a copy of a famous painting executed on silk by Guido Reni and which is to be found in Rome. For some time attributed to Preti, it would be the only case of the Calabrese master ever painting an exact copy of a famous work.

Recent research has also established that it was hung up in the church in 1653, six years before the arrival of Preti on the island.

In 1598-99 Ludwig von Anhalt-Kothen was in Malta as part of his Kavalierstour and kept an interesting journal account.

In the 1640s, he started to turn the account into verse in German although death cut his efforts short. In ‘Memories in Verse: The Travels of Ludwig von Anhalt-Kothen (1579–1650); Petra Caruana Dingli discusses this baroque fashion which, in this case, might have been motivated to improve and promote vernacular German.

Covers various aspects of the period

The vast building projects undertaken by the Order of St John necessitated a well-organised system of land acquisition, measuring, preparation, and design. Mevrick Spiteri and Daniel Borg discuss the formation of the architect-engineer, the perito, and the agrimensore and their regulation by the Order of St John in 18th-century Malta.

While resident engineers or architects designed the buildings, it was up to the perito and agrimensore to deal with technical aspects, such as surveys, valuations, and the drawing of the measured areas.

In an excellent exhaustive paper Spiteri and Borg focus on the formation of these professions and define their roles making use of archival material, court and administrative records, cartographic sources, and even private notebooks.

After discussing the set-up and educational background of these professions, the authors then turn to particular commissions and highlight their roles, workings, skills, collaborations, and influences.

The Order made sure all employees were duly qualified and proficient in skills. There were also specific examinations for one to obtain a licence and to be officially registered.

Without a proper school, it seems that most prospective candidates studied mathematics at private schools or the Jesuit college.

This is a most interesting contribution which no serious student of the history of Maltese architecture can afford to ignore.

The other paper with a ‘Maltese’ connection is Angelo Lo Conte’s study on the symbolism of blood in two early Italian Baroque masterpieces: Caravaggio’s Beheading and Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Beheading Holofernes at Naples’ Capodimonte Museum.

Lo Conte proposes that both artists used ‘blood as a symbolic representation of their own life-stories … as a vehicle to express intense motions of fear and revenge’.

The Beheading becomes even more dramatic with Caravaggio, who spent most of his short life running away from his demons, signing his own name from the blood that gushes from the Baptist’s neck.

Artemisia too had her own troubled life and seems to have used her art to exorcise her rage and anger. The decapitation of Holofernes is depicted with a brutal reality that is painful and shocking to watch, even more savage that Caravaggio’s own earlier treatment of the subject.

The other three papers are proof of how the journal is reaching well outside our shores by attracting foreign scholars. Giuseppe Mrozek Eliszezynski from the University of Teramo discuss an episode from Spanish history.

The controversial duke of Osuna, viceroy of Sicily (1611–16) and Naples (1616–20), was accused of large-scale corruption and involved Espia Mayor Andres de Velasquez whose brief consisted of coordinating, monitoring the flood of secret information that flowed to Madrid.

Rebecca Hall from the University of Malta writes about the musical prodigy Elizabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (c.1664-1729) who was to become ‘model for female composers to emulate’.

The chivalric ideal and military ethic during the period of the Sun King is the subject of the contribution in Italian of Francesca Frasca from the Commission Française d’Histoire Militaire at the Chateau de Vincennes.