ViGiLO - Din l-Art Ħelwa
ISSUE 57 • MAY 2022
53
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY TITULAR PANEL PAINTING ‘NATIVITY OF THE VIRGIN’ RESTORED At Our Lady of Victory Church, Valletta
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The painting before and after restoration.
he titular Mannerist painting on wood of the Conservators—Fine Arts Restoration. The project was ‘Nativity of the Virgin’, within Our Lady of Victory made possible with the support of PwC Malta as part of Church in Valletta, has been restored. Din l-Art their ten-year programme of assistance to this church. Ħelwa is entrusted with the guardianship of this Conservator Amy Sciberras commenced with church. This was the first church and building in Valletta preliminary investigations of the panel painting in 2021. and was dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin by Grand Following this study, conservation works started in January Master Jean de Valette and the Order of St John after their of this year whereby the painting was fully stabilised victory at the Great Siege. Her feast was to be celebrated in through consolidation treatments of the various strata perpetuity each year on 8th September. comprising this painting, cleaned from past retouchings, It is believed that this panel painting stood above the varnish and overpaint—hence revealing more details of the altar of the first church of 1567, and was later moved up original composition. Chromatic integration of uncovered high into its elaborate carved niche when the church was and infilled losses were carried out, as the removal of old enlarged. Seated propped on cushions, the painting depicts and altered past retouchings revealed damage which the St Anne, the Mother of the Virgin having been delivered painting had suffered over the years. of her child. She is being offered food by a servant while As explained by Simone Mizzi, extraordinary details St Joachim, Mary’s father, prays and within the painting were rediscovered, observes the midwives tending to the including the platter of dried fruit infant’s needs. It is thought that the being offered to the Virgin, the painting may be the only one in Malta elaborate hair styles and footwear of depicting the birth of the Virgin. the maidservants, the tie cords on the Until recently the original midwife’s belt, the black and white sixteenth-century paint layer was swans on the bottom left, the elaborate not visible, under layers of overpaint pitcher of water, and the bright flash and darkened varnish applied over of the white towel being heated to the years. The paint layer was also warm the infant against the fire, an in a rather unstable condition and iconography of tenderness at birth. had begun to exhibit localised paint These interventions were carried Conservator Amy Sciberras applies liftings and losses. Hence Din l-Art out within the church itself by utilising first aid treatments to the titular Ħelwa, under the direction of Simone a purposely made scaffolding system painting prior to restoration. Mizzi, and with experts from the carefully assembled by Agius Stone Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, initiated the process Works Ltd. This ensured that the panel painting could of saving and bringing to light this important painting. be restored in situ, avoiding climatic changes during the Conservation works were entrusted to Amy Sciberras conservation process. n
