A Statue and its Story: The Eighteenth-Century Statue Of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Oratory of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta – Mark Agius

A STATUE AND ITS STORY

The Eighteenth-Century Statue Of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Oratory of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta

By Mark Agius

The Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta celebrates its fourth centenary this year. It was founded on 13th February 1622. To celebrate this centenary the Confraternity has been restoring its oratory and the artefacts that it contains.

One of the most important artefacts owned by the Confraternity is the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel which dominates the altar of its oratory in Old Theatre Street. This is the oldest processional statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Malta, and there has been much discussion about its author. In the past it was suggested that this statue was sculpted by Bernini or Ferrata, the teacher of Melchiorre Gafà, and that it was brought from Rome in 1657.1 This was based on an entry in the accounts of that year which noted that food was provided for the statue bearers.2

Iconographically, it followed the pattern established in 1660 by the Maltese sculptor Melchiorre Gafà in his statue of Our Lady of the Rosary sculpted for the Dominican church in Rabat.3 With this work, Gafà had set a typically Maltese pattern in iconography. Here Our Lady directly presents an item to the beholder, and with it offers her protection and that of Her Son. It has a very direct appeal to the beholder, who is in effect part of the action of the piece—it is he who receives the object, and hence the protection offered. This contrasts with depictions of Mary offering a scapular to St Simon Stock, in which the observer is simply observing, watching a ‘sacred conversation’ and excluded from the action.

However recent research by Alessandro Debono has shown that a previous statue— a mannequin which was dressed up—existed before that date.4 Some of the clothes of that mannequin were found to be listed in an inventory in the Confraternity archives. Cesare Passalacqua, the founder of the Confraternity, had asked in his will to be buried in the Oratory of Our Lady of Mount Carmel close to the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel which he says that he had funded and who was his special

Detail of the statue after restoration

The Our Lady of Mount Carmel statue, after restoration

Iconographically, it followed the pattern established in 1660 by the Maltese sculptor Melchiorre Gafà in his statue of Our Lady of the Rosary sculpted for the Dominican church in Rabat.

protector. We do not know, however, which statue he was referring to.

Therefore when we decided to restore the statue we were anxious to find out more about its author and its date of execution. The outcome of the various studies provided a great deal of interesting new information about this statue.

On stylistic grounds, art expert Alessandro Debono has suggested a new attribution for the statue. He suggests the statue is by Pietro Paolo Troisi (29th June 1686 to March/April 1743), a silversmith and sculptor who was Master of the Mint of the Knights of Malta. Troisi was a member of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Carmelite church in Valletta from at least 1713 to his death, and at times he was appointed as the Confraternity’s secretary, treasurer or rector.5

The head of the Virgin was analysed using portable x-ray equipment. X-radiography of the head showed that the head was carved out of a whole piece of wood and that the glass eyes were inserted from cavities on the front of the face according to the Italian/Neapolitan technique. Nails indicate attachments of separate pieces of wood for the construction of the veil.6

In order to identify the pigments used in the statue, a High Power Optical Microscope (HPOM) followed by investigations under SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and analysis of the layer composition through EDS (Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy) was used. The SEM-EDS analysis showed a layer of blue overpainting containing particles of Prussian blue pigment together with various white pigment particles. These pigments in the upper blue layer were known to be used from the early twentieth century and therefore pertain to a fairly recent intervention. The lower layer of blue, which was probably the original paint layer, contained particles of emerald green together with lead white, which are both pigments in common use between the early seventeenth century and the late nineteenth century.

The flesh tones of the Virgin were composed of several layers containing red ochre and lead white particles, which would have been used to produce the light pink skin colour. The uppermost layer contained particles of barium white. Barium white is a pigment used since the late eighteenth century and is still in use today. Hence the uppermost layer of paint for the skin was a fairly recent overpainting intervention.

Wood identification analysis showed that spruce and pine were the types of wood used to sculpt the statue. The spruce sample was from the base of the Virgin, while the pine sample was from the Child’s head. Dendrochronology dating of the statue’s wood did not give a definitive date, but suggested a date in the

middle of the fifteenth century. Such an early date enables us to speculate that the wood used might have been recycled from wood which had been brought to Malta for another purpose— perhaps part of a ship such as a large mast.

Thus we can say that we now have a statue with quite a different history from its traditional story. It was sculpted in Malta, not Rome, by Troisi, a local artist who held an important position in the administration of the Order of St John and within the Confraternity. It was made from wood, possibly from northern Europe, which had been reused after having been used for another purpose. However iconographically it followed the pattern established in 1660 by Melchiorre Gafà, also a Maltese artist, when he sculpted the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary for the Dominican church of Rabat. Since Troisi died in 1743, he would appear to be the first Maltese artist to follow Gafà’s lead in creating an Our Lady of Mount Carmel statue antedating Andrea Imbroll’s statue in Mdina which is dated 1761.

Because the statue was overpainted several times and there were a number of cracks and losses in the paint, and also because much of the original gilt had been repaired using porporin and the silver was even replaced with acrylic paint, the result of the restoration of the statue to its original appearance has led to a statue which looks very different to its previous appearance—a statue which is much more beautiful and closer to its seventeenth-century glory. Indeed we feel that we have rediscovered a masterpiece of Maltese Baroque art. n

Acknowledgements: Thanks are due to Valentina Lupo and Maria Grazia Zenzani both of the firm Atelier del Restauro, and to Dr Sandro Debono and Rev. Dr Jonathan Farrugia.

The restoration team and restoration works being undertaken.

NOTES: (1) Lawrenz Sammut, Is-Santwarju tal-Karmnu (Malta: 1952), 74; (2) Valentin Borg Gusman, ‘Marian Devotion in the Maltese Carmelite Province During the 17th and 18th Centuries’, in Marian Devotions in the Islands of Saint Paul (1600–1800), ed. Vincent Borg, 284–300 (Malta: The Malta Historical Society, 1983); (3) Philip Mallia, ‘The Dominican Order and the Blessed Virgin in Malta till the End of the Eighteenth Century’, in Borg, Marian Devotions, 303–11; (4) Sandro Debono, ‘Ir-Redentur: Iconography and Art for the Purposes of Ritual’, in Ir-Redentur: History, Art, and Cult, ed. Jonathan Farrugia (Malta: Midsea Books, 2019), 23; (5) Pietro Paolo Troisi https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Paolo_Troisi; (6) Valentina Lupo and Maria Grazia Zenzani, ‘Final Report for the Conservation and Restoration of the Early 17th-Century Wooden Polychrome Statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Valletta’ (Atelier del Restauro, 2021), 28–35.

Mark Agius is a retired medical doctor who is rector of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta. He used to teach Psychiatry, Medical Communication Skills and Neuropsychopharmacology at the University of Cambridge. He has developed an interest in art restoration and church history.