In his article ‘Conservation of Cali paintings at San Anton Palace’ (The Sunday Times, December 2) Fr Charles Vella incorrectly captioned one of the pictures he used to illustrate his article as being “a painting of a military officer”. In actual fact the painting depicts Sir Victor Houlton, Secretary to the Government between 1855 and 1883.
In my collection I have what must have been the original of the painting as in it Sir Victor is depicted in an identical pose, wearing court dress and the sash and badge of the Order of StMichael and St George. The photograph, mounted on a black board bears the imprint of photographer Augusto Felice.