Keith Sciberras:
From Caravaggio toMattia Preti. Baroque Painting in Malta.
Midsea Books, Malta, 2015.
192 pp

The 17th century was to see Malta experience its most glorious period in painting. Not only did it attract two great masters (one of them a revolutionary giant of world art) but also a host of smaller ones, as well as encouraging various local artists of varying abilities.

This was the century that saw the Baroque idiom reaching Malta from Italy. Here, it was to find a most fertile ground in the minds of the islanders, so much so that even today its vestiges have still not been completely washed away in local artistic tastes and sensibilities.

The study of Baroque art in Malta has, in recent years, made huge strides based on a few scholars who, making solid use of archival sources and a finely-tuned artistic acumen, have been able to blow the chaff away off many hopeful attributions and fanciful explanations. The establishment of the art unit at the University of Malta has certainly been instrumental in this quantum leap of local art scholarship.

Filippo Paladini, Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist.Filippo Paladini, Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist.

Keith Sciberras has made the study of the period very much his own with numerous well-received publications and has successfully broken into the international conferences circuit.

In 2009, his Baroque Art in Malta was a milestone publication whose echoes reached even beyond our shores. It made available lots of new archival sources, both local and foreign, argued convincing new attributions, provided corrections of dates and defined the work of a number of the major and not-so-major artists of the period.

But, since knowledge is never static, even the six years that have passed since the first publication have seen exciting extensive new discoveries and developments. Much of this new information appears in specialised papers, dissertations and theses and is often, therefore, not easily available to the ordinary reader.

This book is an extensively rewritten text that takes into account all the new information that has been discovered in the meantime and, as such, makes an indispensable text, especially for students but even for all those with an interest in the subject.

The book makes an indispensable text, especially for students but even for all those with an interest in the subject

The years immediately following the siege saw the raising of important edifices and, therefore, the need to embellish them which resulted in the importation of foreign artists to fill this vacuum. The two important artists – first Matteo Perez d’Aleccio and, a few years later, Filippo Paladini – left their marks with their Mannerist approach.

Stefano Erardi, Virgin of the Rosary.Stefano Erardi, Virgin of the Rosary.

Sciberras has already contributed important new knowledge, often in collaboration with David Stone, about Caravaggio and his tempestuous stay, especially regarding the cause of his final clash with the Order, which led to his imprisonment and daring escape from Fort St Angelo.

Caravaggio introduced a whole new artistic idiom which must have bewildered the provincial art circles. His breathtaking realism and consummate skill were areas which none had dreamed of, and certainly not of capturing on canvas.

Sciberras discusses several paintings with a Caravaggio link that survive locally, including a St Francis in a private collection and the problematic Martyrdom of St Catherine at the Żejtun parish church dedicated to St Catherine, for which Sciberras proposes an attribution to Giulio Cassarino, with some having argued even for Caravaggio’s own hand in part.

Caravaggio’s influence spurred on several other artists of varying abilities. Perhaps, the most able of the lot was the Sicilian Cassarino, whose life and works have been greatly clarified these last few years from the time that he was simply labelled as ‘the enigmatic Cassarino’. Slowly, he has emerged from the darkness of art history. His local corpus has now been more or less firmly established and analysed, although research shows that we can never safely that the end has been reached.

Francesco Noletti, Still Life With Armour on an Embroidered Velvet Cloth.Francesco Noletti, Still Life With Armour on an Embroidered Velvet Cloth.

Another Caravaggio follower who practised in Malta and left a few paintings of considerable quality was Mario Minniti, a personal friend of Caravaggio’s, whose fine Mocking of Christ at the Cathedral Museum speaks the master’s idiom.

An artist who gained immeasurably from his stay in Malta and the Caravaggio works he experienced at first hand was Leonello Spada, who took this knowledge with him to Rome.

The 17th century saw a wholesale attempt to embellish Valletta, both officially by the Order as well by the individual knights who very often had access to important artists in their native lands. Many of these paintings were eventually spirited abroad with a few ending in private hands and which we only get the chance to admire in occasional exhibitions or thanks to books such as this one.

In this local renaissance, the Church played a very important role as patron, although it tended to attract mostly local artists of varying ability. However, this spread of paintings, even to small country churches, certainly helped to ‘educate’ local eyes that had no access to the corridors of power.

Francesco Romanelli, Christ appearing to St Ignatius of Loyola.Francesco Romanelli, Christ appearing to St Ignatius of Loyola.

One local painter who achieved great fame abroad was Francesco Noletti, nicknamed il Maltese, whose exquisite paintings of folded carpets are beautiful tours de force and encapsulate the spirit of the baroque still life. Even his name was lost in the mists of history, and he was often identified as Francesco Fieravino.

A local painter who, uniquely, achieved notable fame in Rome, Noletti too is slowly emerging from the folds of mystery which has hitherto marked his life. The part about him is quite exhaustive and contains new information; unfortunately ‘his’ portrait at the Old University is not featured in in this publication.

Then, there was a host of practitioners who reached varying heights and of whom Sciberras gives exhaustive accounts. Filippo Dingli, the brother of the architect Tommaso, was the most prolific, but there were others like Stefano Erardi, the French servant at arms Lucas Garnier and the Portuguese Emanuele Pereira.

The century would be brought to a magnificent close with Mattia Preti who, from 1661 till his death in 1699 would make Malta his home and eventually be buried here. Preti is an artist who, in recent years, has been enormously revalued internationally. More than half of his known oils on canvas are in Malta, not to mention his numerous altar paintings and large-format pictures. His magnificent ceiling frescos of St John’s would have been enough to apotheosise him.

Stefano Pieri, FlagellationStefano Pieri, Flagellation

Mattia Preti, Miracle of St Nicholas.Mattia Preti, Miracle of St Nicholas.

Preti is important in local art history because of the long-lasting effect on local painters who either trained with him or who tried to imitate his style, which had taken Malta by storm.

Indeed, Sciberras provides an interesting long discussion of Preti’s bottega, which was quite active and helped to multiply the master’s production. Many of the names of his assistants are known and research is proceeding to identify their particular contributions. Even knights are recorded as occasionally working in the bottega. Indeed, this part is one of the most exciting of the book and also one of the most important, considering the problem of identifying Preti’s own hand in the numerous paintings attributed to him and his circle.

Preti influenced other artists like Giuseppe D’Arena and Stefano Erardi, both competent artists in their own right, with the latter earning the distinction of obtaining a commission from the German langue for the impressive altarpiece in their chapel in St John’s.

Caravaggio to Mattia Preti is no simple rewriting of the author’s Baroque Art in Malta, but should stand proudly by its side. Although Sciberras is responsible for the text, the book has gained immeasurably from the magnificent photography by Joseph P. Borg, who has established himself as arguably the foremost local photographer in art and architecture. Indeed Borg, can lay a humble claim to co-authorship of this fascinating book.

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