In this eighth, and penultimate article leading to the bicentenary celebrations of the Schranz artists in Malta, John Schranz, a direct descendant of Anton Schranz via Giovanni, his great-great-grandfather, takes a bird’s-eye view of Anton’s lesser known, cross-generational progeny.

In an early article in the series, while discussing the notorious difficulty of attributing works to individual Schranz artists, the author proposed an interesting scenario: the collective, early formation of Anton Schranz’s little children, his Menorca studio swarming with them, as he created paintings while teaching them all to paint, generated a powerful context where it was evidently impossible for them not to influence each other profoundly.

Five women artists born in three generations of one family in about 60 years is quite a phenomenon, especially for the 1800s, when the status of women artists was nowhere near what it is today. Of those five, Melita Schranz’s is perhaps the only name known to a (limited) number of people, with Maria Ana Schranz’s name perhaps known to some cognoscenti. The other three – Margerita (and/or Francesca) Schranz, Angelica Quintana and Ida Camilleri Schranz – were surely unknown until discovered in recent research, the latter two only months ago.

Maria Ana Schranz

Maria Ana was Anton and Isabella’s second daughter, born in Ciutadella, Menorca on January 7, 1797. Her baptism and confirmation records provide an insight into the family’s Menorcan standing: her baptismal godmother was a relative of the newly appointed Bishop of Menorca while her confirmation godmother was the bishop’s sister.

On September 4, 1827, Maria Ana married Giovanni Quintana, who published books and ran a salon for authors to discuss literature. In November 1828 she gave birth to their first child, Angelica, also an artist.

Her first motherhood did not curtail Maria Ana’s artistic calling; instead, we learn she was an artist from a Malta Government Gazette advertisement she placed two years later, in August 1830. In that advertisement, she gives her studio’s address: 340 Sda San Paolo, Valletta. That prime location – one door away from Strickland House, familiarly known to readers as the premises where for years the Times of Malta newspapers were produced – was also a stone’s throw away from the Schranz residences and studio(s) in Sda S. Ursola. Furthermore, she offers “lessons in drawing to young ladies”, adding that she paints “miniature likenesses”.

A book her husband wrote and published in 1840, Guida dell’ Isola di Malta e le sue dipendenze, indicates, however, that her situation had by then changed.

The book – a surprisingly broad-range picture of 1840 Malta, town by town and village by village – is very interesting and highly detailed. It gives, for example, a bilingual list, in Italian and Maltese, of over 150 names of fish caught and sold for culinary purposes at that time.

It discusses the arts and many practising artists, naturally including Giovanni and Antonio Schranz (Anton had died some months before, while Giuseppe had settled in Istanbul around 1835). Quintana does not, however, mention his wife as being an artist… by then she had given birth to five more children. As so often unfortunately happens, she must have given up painting.

Maria Ana died at her residence, 6, Sda Santa Venera, Msida, on July 8, 1884, aged 88. Her obituary (Malta, July 9, 1884) describes her as “dedicata al lavoro, alla famiglia, all’arte – ecco la sintesi della vita della defunta signora”.

It is a pity that no works by Maria Ana Schranz have as yet been identified – surely, many miniature portraits by her must be languishing unattributed in family collections.

Margerita (and/or Francesca) Schranz

A number of watercolours of Constantinople, part of Rodney Searight’s collection of 2,000 paintings and drawings of the Middle East presented to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1985, were considered by Searight as by “circle of Joseph (Giuseppe) Schranz… possibly by his sisters Margerita and/or Francesca”.

The sisters twice visited their brother Giuseppe in Constantinople. The first visit saw them leave Malta bound for Odessa on July 20, 1836, returning 17 months later in December 1837, “from Odessa and Istanbul”. Margerita left Malta again for Constantinople on February 19, 1838, whence she returned after 35 months in January 1841.

Two considerations add weight to Searight’s suggestion: (i) when both sisters, together with Giovanni Quintana, went to Cairo for the probate of their brother Antonio, as executrices of his son’s inheritance, they deposited the then very impressive sum of GBP6,000 as a guarantee of their correct execution of the inheritance; (2) when the unmarried Margerita died, aged 90, she was described as “benestante”, both in her death certificate and in the newspaper reporting her demise. Benestante implies she was a person of means.

Still, the only (tentative) hint of either of them being an artist is Searight’s, solely because of their long stays in Istanbul, which allured so many Europeans, including their brother, a greatly appreciated artist there. Were they helping him in his studio? Had they contemplated settling there to tap the booming market of visitors drawn by Orientalism’s fascination? Our questions remain as yet unanswered.

Melita Schranz

Melita was the first child born to Giovanni Schranz and Maria Concetta Scolaro (daughter of artist Giovanbattista Scolaro). Melita married the eminent professor Nicola Zammit, a medical doctor, architect, designer and chair of philosophy at the University of Malta. Although little is known of her life and artistic output, Melita’s name sometimes appears in auction rooms, while the family always knew she was an artist.

A very interesting watercolour of hers, with touches of gouache, came to light for the Bicentenary – a moonlit Grand Harbour, seen through Sda. Saluto from a second floor window of the Schranz family’s Sda. S. Ursola residence. Giovanni’s similar daylight view is more fluid.

Rinaldo and Costantino Schranz

Giovanni’s sons Rinaldo and Costantino are the Schranz artists’ saddest episode. Giovanni must have been destroyed, seeing them die of tuberculosis, the 1800s ‘fashionable’ disease, within 12 days of each other, on April 10 and 22, 1865, aged 29 and 25.

That they were artists emerged from their death certificates, while one painting is known to have inscribed, on its verso, HMS Cambrian by Costantino Schranz. Recent research shows that Giuseppe Schranz, resident in Constantinople, was Costantino’s baptismal godfather by proxy, which explains Costantino’s first name.

Two recent discoveries could link the brothers. An oil painting in a gallery in Albania, showing Turkish ships firing celebratory salvos in the Bosphorus, has on its verso a very Schranzian Rinaldo Schranz, a date: 1863, and a scratched “ft” (fecit) in between. Interestingly, on October 29, 1862, Costantino obtained a passport. Did he go to Constantinople to visit his godfather, Giuseppe? Was Rinaldo with him? Research is in progress.

Angelica Quintana

That Angelica Quintana was an artist emerged when Palazzo Falson curator Francesca Balzan happened to come across that name in a list of the museum’s works. We had spoken of searching for Maria Ana Quintana miniatures. The unusual surname rang a bell. She traced the watercolour and contacted me. Its style and its full signature spoke volumes.

A Heritage Malta sepia wash then came to light, listed as a possible Schranz, resembling Palazzo Falson’s work. A similar work arrived for the exhibition, and any doubt vanished: another Schranz artist.

Ida Camilleri Schranz

With the discovery of Ida Camilleri Schranz some weeks later came an interesting twist. A signed oil painting was offered: “It’s long been in the family, known as a Schranz… but it is so unlike a Schranz…”. A signature in a mass of reeds, seemingly “Quintana Schranz”, was interpreted as such. Some weeks later, however, two bland watercolours were offered, signed Ida Camilleri Schranz, 1916. A flash and a quick check – the oil’s ‘masked’ signature was identical. Ida’s mother was Adelaide Schranz, Giovanni’s daughter, married to Giuseppe Camilleri in 1873.

What is interesting is that this oil painting is markedly impressionistic, leading one to wonder how Ida may have developed. It is even sadder to ask which direction/s Rinaldo and Costantino might have taken, in the exciting years when art went through such upheavals… had they not died so tragically young.

Celebrating 200 years of Schranz artists

Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti has published the book Celebrating 200 years of Schranz, to mark the launch of the bicentenary celebrations of the Schranz artists. Orders may be made online via www.bdlbooks.com, by phone on 2138 0351 or by e-mail on info@bdlbooks.com.