I refer to the letter by Francis Falzon titled ‘Malta link inn Perugia’ (February 3).

The two paintings in the Benedictine church of St Peter, in Perugia representing the shipwreck of St Paul in Malta are detached frescoes. They are the work of Leonardo Cungi, a follower of Michelangelo.

Cungi was born at Sansepolcro, in the province of Arezzo, in the first quarter of the 16th century. He executed these paintings sometime before 1556 because he received payment for them in that year.

Encouraged and guided by a Perugian art historian, F.F. Mancini, I carried out research on these paintings. I analysed sketches of his, now housed at the Uffizi, based on Michelangelo’s paintings. I also delivered a talk about them in the second session of History Week in November 1993, organised by the Malta Historical Society.

My study, which analyses content and style of the paintings, was eventually published in Proceedings of History Week in 1997.