Our mission is to collect and disseminate information, and to assist with research into the culture and historic heritage of Malta ~ to organize in Malta and overseas, independently or with others, exhibitions, seminars and other activities with the aim of promoting and spreading knowledge of the cultural heritage of Malta ~ to produce publications, catalogues, books, documents and other material that reflect the aim of our Foundation.
2 · Treasures of Malta 91, Christmas 2024
FONDAZZJONI PATRIMONJU MALTI
The Presence of !aħan in Malta’s Visual Culture
Kylie Aquilina discusses and summarises the evolution of !aħan depictions in Malta’s visual culture in connection with memory and national identity
18
Valletta and the Three Cities: A seventeenthcentury map by Jean Boulanger
Emanuel Chetcuti writes a detailed review about the three states of a map of Malta made by Jean Boulanger in 1645
32
Malta at the 1924 Wembley Exhibition
Hundred years since Malta’s participation in the British Empire Exhibition, in this throwback article, Giovanni Bonello highlights some of the Malta Pavilion’s most notable features 45 The Late Gate: The 1924 British Empire Exhibition and a Maltese Wrought-Iron Masterpiece
John Magro
Edward de Gaetano
The Renaissance of Carlo Magri (1617–1693): Unveiling Malta’s Intellectual Dramatist
Mario Pace
Fort Chambray’s Pol!erista
Joseph Scicluna appraises Chevalier Jacques François de Chambray’s gift to the island of Gozo and the unique gunpowder magazine built for it
79
Restoring the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mercy, Qrendi: A project like no other
Ivana Farrugia, Tabitha Dreyfuss, Norbert Gatt, Joseph Magro
87 The Cover
Matthew Robert Shirfield
89 Bookshelf
Rachel Radmilli; Simone Azzopardi 93
Index: Treasures of Malta, Vol. XXX
94
A subject index to the illustrations in Treasures of Malta, Vol. XXX
Paul Xuereb 96
Cultural Review
Cecilia Xuereb 98
Antonia Critien
Josef Kalleya, Madonna and Child, charcoal and chalk drawing on paper, signed and dated, 1973.
(Private Collection, Malta / Photo: Lisa Attard)
from the Editor
The rollercoaster of heritage protection in the Maltese Islands shows no signs at all of abating. Encouraging news and disastrous tidings alternate with predictable and monotonous regularity. One to celebrate, more to despair. But let us be positive and home in on the plusses—regeneration and creativity.
The news that the Jesuit church in Valletta, oozing historic, artistic, cultural, and religious relevance, is undergoing thorough and life-saving treatment cannot be hailed as anything but highly commendable. We have a foretaste of what final outcome to expect by sizing the results of the regeneration of its two side oratories, today restored as unquestionable gems of baroque ingenuity, elegance and coherence, worthy competitors to the finest in southern Italy, the chosen land of small, superb, and unbearably lavish places of worship.
The very recent inauguration of the no-expense-spared Malta International Contemporary Arts Space—MICAS—in the Floriana Ospizio complex, promises to make available on its thirty million Euro grounds a new fertile nursery where creative art, international and domestic, can grow and flourish. Boutique exhibition spaces were not lacking, but for more ambitious installations which needed larger scale proportions to breathe properly, the new complex may prove determining.
Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti is keeping up its momentum. Following the first volume in the new series More Histories, published earlier this year, the second one, subtitled Blaming it on Eve and wholly concentrated on women as protagonists of our history, is already out for grabs. If these two volumes mostly disclose the seamier side of human nature, the failings, the evil, and the perversions, the next two volumes should make up for that. It will not disclose exclusively outstanding virtue, but more rounded profiles of prominent or forgotten personalities who have shaped the history of our motherland, some of their unknown deeds, and more of their hidden misdeeds. Many surprises in store. As it so happens, one, in fact, was in store for me: Since the last issue of this periodical, the National Book Council has awarded me the 2024 special prize for lifetime achievement in literature. Truly, I am honoured.
Our next publication, on the history of films, film-making and cinemagoing in Malta, researched and written by film historian Charlie Cauchi, is well underway. It will add unsuspected and fascinating new chapters to our film history, laid out engagingly through customised interviews with directors, producers, and film industry practitioners and operators—documentary style.
On research and archival work, Patrimonju is building a database about twentieth-century Maltese artists, reaching out to families, collectors, and custodians of their estates and archives— an ambitious and far-reaching project meant to document, digitise, and centralise this tangible yet vulnerable heritage, to make it accessible wherever needed.
Meanwhile, research and archival material about Victor Pasmore are being continually updated. Last September, the Victor Pasmore Gallery launched a series of monthly events which aim to offer new and alternative perspectives on how to engage with Pasmore’s practice, philosophy, and context. Representatives from the Atelier del Restauro kicked off the series with an exploration of the process of restoration of the works prior to their display, the material creations themselves, but even more about how they may be seen. Later events explored topics related to sound (with Electronic Music Malta), and poetry (with Inizjamed), particularly through open mic sessions, which will continue in the first months of the new year.
Palazzo Falson in Mdina proceeded with its ongoing programmes of activities, such as the organisation of children’s workshops dedicated to Olof Gollcher and others to the joys of travel, as well as the relaunch of the AR game, Lady Caterina, which took place in late summer. Notably, the Palazzo and its displays were awarded the Quality Assured Malta stamp of approval by the Malta Tourism Authority for the next two years, an official certification of sites of high standard and quality.
Treasures of Malta is published three times a year, at Christmas, Easter and in the Summer
All material, pictorial and/or editorial, published in Treasures of Malta is the property of the respective author and/or photographer. Reproduction without the necessary permission in writing from the rightful owner is strictly prohibited. iss& 1028-3013
Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti
VO/1762
Conseil d’Honneur
Her Excellency the President, Ms Myriam Spiteri Debono
The Hon. Prime Minister, Dr Robert Abela
His Grace the Archbishop, Mgr Charles J. Scicluna
Hon. President
The Hon. Dr Owen Bonnici
Minister for National Heritage, the Arts, and Local Government
Hon. Life Founder President Dr Michael Frendo
Life Founder Members
Rita Flamini, the late Maurice de Giorgio
Founder Members
John Lowell, the late John Manduca
Nicholas de Piro
Board of Governors
Joseph Grioli, Chairman
Giovanni Bonello, Deputy Chairman
Francesca Balzan
Joseph V. Bannister
Pascal A. Demajo
Max Ganado
Michael Grech
Matthew von Brockdorff
Michael Lowell, Chief Executive Officer
FONDAZZJONI PATRIMONJU MALTI
'e Chairman and Board of Governors of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti would like to thank the following donors for their support
ASSOCIATES
THE MARTIN LAING FOUNDATION
BENEFACTORS
CORPORATE SUPPORTERS
MR JEAN CLAUDE GANDUR
FONDAZZJONI PATRIMONJU MALTI
'e Chairman and Board of Governors of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti would like to thank the following donors for their support
PERSONAL SUPPORTERS
Francis Miller Memorial Fund
PATRONS
PERSONAL
Simon Abrahams & Francesca Del Rio
Mr Neville Agius & Dr Sabine Agius Cabourdin
Mrs Janatha Stubbs
Aviaserve – Mr Kenneth De Martino
CamilleriParis Mode – Mr Paul Camilleri
Eden Leisure Group – Mr Ian De Cesare
Forestals Group of Companies – Mr Tancred Tabone
Gasan Group Limited – Mr Ian Sultana
Gianpula Village – Dr Roger de Giorgio
Good Earth Distributors Ltd – Mr Nikolai de Giorgio
GVZH Advocates – Dr Michael Grech
IIG Bank (Malta) Ltd – Mr Raymond Busuttil
John Ripard & Son (Shipping) – Mr Joseph Chetcuti
Lombard Bank Malta plc – Mr Joseph Said
Mapfre Middlesea plc – Mr Martin Galea
CORPORATE
Miller Distributors Ltd – Mr Malcolm G. Miller
O. F. Gollcher and Sons Ltd – Mr Karl Gollcher
PwC – Mr David Valencia
RiskCap International Ltd – Dr Paul Magro
Rizzo, Farrugia & Co. (Stockbrokers) Ltd – Mr Vincent J. Rizzo
Satariano – Ms Natasha Chapelle Paleologo
Shireburn So(ware Limited – Ms Yasmin de Giorgio
Sigma Coatings (Malta) Ltd – Mr Anthony Critien
'e Alfred Mizzi Foundation – Mr Julian Sammut
Tug Malta Ltd – Dr George Abela
Virtù Steamship Co. Ltd – Mr Charles A. Portelli
Vincenzo
Bonello His Legacy in Heritage
Vincenzo Bonello (1891–1969) has had an exceptional life in so many different ways. The sheer volume of his work in the fields of art history, collecting and conservation, in his role as the first Curator of Fine Arts in Malta is breathtaking. The range of his knowledge and self-taught skills can be seen in the extraordinary results that we can still see today in Malta’s museums and historic buildings. The richness of the national art collection, the preservation of the vault paintings of St John’s Co-Cathedral and the Cathedral Museum that he helped to set up are the most spectacular of much that bears witness to the diverse abilities he brought to bear on his profession.
Fig. 1
(Detail) Joseph Mallia, illustration of ‘Imsejkna Flieles!’, 19 x 13.5cm, published in M. Muscat, Id-Denfil, Book 4 (Malta: Department of Education, 1981), 14. (Courtesy of the University Malta Library, Msida)
The Presence of !a ħan in Malta’s Visual Culture
Kylie Aquilina discusses and summarises the evolution of !aħan depictions in Malta’s visual culture in connection with memory and national identity
!aħan is the Maltese variation of a folklore trickster character who is known for his wise fool personality. Most studies concerning the character of !aħan were created from a folkloristic point of view. This article aims to shed light upon the most known visual representation of !aħan in Malta and to show his visual transition throughout Maltese history.1
The first known written presence of the character in Malta was published in Mikiel Anton Vassalli’s collection of idioms, Motti Aforismi e Pro!erbi Maltesi (1828).2
Additionally the first known publication of !aħan tales in Malta was in the first newspaper written in Maltese, titled Il Kaulata Maltia (1839), which featured the tale of !aħan and the pot. This narration is about !aħan tricking his neighbour into thinking that a pot has the possibility to give birth. He did this so that the second time he borrowed the pot from his neighbour, he would say that it had died in childbirth and would thus keep the pot to himself.3 This example shows the cunningness of !aħan which negates the silly perception attributed to the character especially through the tale of !aħan pulling the door off its hinges.
Kylie Aquilina graduated with a B.A. (Hons) in Fine Arts (2022), and is currently an M.A. graduand in History of Art (2025), both read with the Department of Art and Art History, at the University of Malta. She is a multimedia fine arts practitioner and an art historian with a focus on visual culture, national identity, folklore, and illustrations.
Valletta and the Three Cities
Fig. 1
The map of Malta found in PLANTAS DE TODAS LAS PLAÇAS Y FORTALECAS DEL REYNO DE SICILIA SACADAS POR ORD[IN] E DE SU MAG.[ESTA]D EL REY D.[ON] PHELIPPE QUARTO. ANNO DE MDCXXXX, published by Negro Francesco (1590–1663) in 1640. The map shows the revised drawings of the Marquis St Angelo. (Courtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid)
A seventeenth-century map by Jean Boulanger
Emanuel Chetcuti writes a detailed review about the three states of a map of Malta made by Jean Boulanger in 1645
In 1645, Jean Boulanger (1608–1680), who had his establishment in Paris, printed a map of Malta, and was published by Nicolas Berey (c.1606–1665) with a long typeset about Malta and the old, new, and proposed fortifications in Valletta and the Three Cities. The map was engraved again in 1662 on a much larger sheet to include a depiction of the third battle of the Dardanelles in the 5th Ottoman-Venetian War which took place within the Dardanelles Straits between 26–27 June 1656. The aim of this study is to examine the map in detail from a cartographic and historical perspective.
Emanuel Chetcuti is a retired charteredcertified accountant and certified public accountant. He is an independent researcher with a keen interest in maps of Malta printed prior to the twentieth century. He has published articles in Treasures of Malta, The Journal of the Malta Map Society, Melita Historica of the Malta Historical Society, the Online Journal of Maltese History of the University of Malta, the IMCoS Journal, and Maps in History of the Brussels Map Circle.
Treasures of Malta 91, Christmas 2024
Fig. 1
A competition was held to choose the best creations for the 1924 Wembley Exhibition. The artworks were on public show in 1923 at the Auberge d’Italie, Valletta.
(Courtesy of the Giovanni Bonello Collection)
Malta at the 1924 Wembley Exhibition
Hundred years since Malta’s participation in the British Empire Exhibition, in this throwback article, Giovanni Bonello highlights some of the Malta Pavilion’s most notable features
In the tradition of the great universal exhibitions which had gained popularity and momentum in the previous century, London embarked on its own showpiece, in 1924, to demonstrate to the world what needed no demonstration: the might of the British Empire. 1924 had turned into a momentous year for Britain. Stanley Baldwin’s Conservatives resigned in January to be succeeded by the first-ever Labour Government, led by Ramsey MacDonald, only to be shortly later heavily defeated at the polls by the Conservatives. Baldwin was back with a vengeance in October. The Prince of Wales, later the shortlived King Edward VIII, soon fell out badly with Baldwin over the Wally Simpson romance.
Giovanni Bonello was a Judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for twelve years. He is now the General Editor at Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti.
Fig. 4
Section drawing forming part of a series held by the Public Works Department, signed by architect Giuseppe Cachia Caruana, whose submission for the design competition held in 1923 was selected as the winning entry. Some modifications to the designs for the pavilion appear to have been made following the competition. The section drawing reproduced here is close to the version executed at Wembley in 1924. It shows some of the details of the interior of two of the pavilion’s three halls. To the left is the hall dedicated to the period of the knights of St John. In the frieze, Cachia Caruana’s initial proposal to fill this with motifs copied from the carved decoration on the walls of St John’s Co-cathedral is shown crossed out and replaced with paintings. The hall dedicated to prehistoric Malta is on the right. It was designed to evoke the interior of the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, complete with an imitation of the corbelled roofing used in Malta’s neolithic monumental buildings. Some of the results of the ongoing study of these recently rediscovered drawings are discussed by Reuben Grima in a paper in the journal Public Archaeology, and in a public lecture delivered to the Archaeological Society on 20 November 2024, a recording of which is available on the Society’s website.
(Courtesy of the Records and Archives Section, Department of Public Works, Malta / Source: PWD, Roll 22, Scan 145).
The Renaissance of Carlo Magri (1617–1693) Unveiling Malta’s Intellectual Dramatist
Mario Pace
In the seventeenth century, the Maltese islands underwent a fervent artistic and literary blossoming, favoured by a period of stability, security, and tranquillity, both in the political and economic )elds—a cultural history very similar to that of southern Italy, where the course of political events intertwined with the history of ideas and cultural environments. Similar to what happened in the Regno delle due Sicilie (Kingdom of Two Sicilies), culture in Malta, especially towards the end of the seventeenth century, ourished.
It is precisely during this period that Carlo Magri,1 a Maltese intellectual with an ecclesiastical background, lived. Translator of Latin, author of a ‘letter about the paintings of the seventh century’, and a booklet defending Maltese values against slanders by Girolamo Brusoni, playwright author of two comedies, and one of the most eminent and controversial archpriests of the Matrice di Gozo, Magri can be considered among the most interesting and signi)cant personalities that Malta had in this period. 'anks to his worldview as a Catholic intellectual, he could express values, taboos, and customs that appeared alien to classical culture, becoming a wellknown )gure and author, not only in Malta but also and especially in neighbouring Sicily, Italy, and elsewhere.
Son of Luigi Magri and Susanna Casauro,2 Carlo was born in a large family, the seventh of eight children, the eldest of whom was Domenico. 'e latter later became a canon and a theologian of the Cathedral of Viterbo and wrote several works of various genres. Carlo might have been born in Valletta, like his seven siblings whose baptism is documented in the archives of the Church of Porto Salvo in Valletta. However, Carlo’s baptism is not documented. One possible hypothesis could be
that, since his mother was of Italian origin, Carlo Magri was born (and baptised) in Italy. In fact, Minieri Riccio, in 1875,3 suggests that Carlo Magri, who also used the pseudonym Marco Argoli, an anagram of his real name, was born in Tagliacozzo, a small town not far from Rome. Unfortunately, all attempts to trace Carlo Magri’s baptismal document through the Diocesan Historical Archive of Tagliacozzo and the parish of SS. Cosma e Damiano (in Tagliacozzo) have been in vain. 'e oldest baptismal records kept in these archives date back to 1647.
Carlo Magri’s date of birth should be 1617. In fact, in the ‘Liber Defunctorum Ecclesiae Cathedralis, 1603–1761’, it is written that Magri died in 1693 ‘anni 76 in circa’,4 which means Carlo would have been born in 1617. 'is is also con)rmed by the historian Achille Ferris, in 1866,5 who states that Carlo Magri died at the age of 76 on 25 October 1693, and was buried in the old mother church, and then transported to the new one. More recently, in 2017, Joseph Bezzina6 maintains that Magri became the archpriest of the mother church of Gozo in 1680, at the age of 63.
As a boy, Carlo Magri received his initial education at the Jesuit College in Malta. It is likely that Magri acquired his love for theatre precisely from this college and from the Jesuit Fathers themselves. 'roughout Europe, the Jesuit theatre was renowned as a means for education and the spread of culture inspired by the principles of the Catholic faith. 'e life of the colleges of the Society of Jesus was characterised by theatre. Magri completed his higher studies in Rome alongside his brother Domenico, where he attended the Ponti)cio Collegio Urbano ‘De Propaganda Fide’.7 Here, he was ordained a priest on 5 July 1643,8 and was appointed Apostolic Protonotary.9 'is was a prestigious position as it was part of the College of Notaries of the Apostolic See, tasked with recording all acts issued by the Roman Curia and compiling the most important acts of the Holy See,
opposite: Fig. 1
The title page of the 1677 edition of the Hierolexicon, published in Rome. (Digitised by Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)
Fort Chambray’s Polverista
Fig. 1
Detail of a plan prepared for consultation purposes showing two gunpowder magazines on either side of the back of Fort Chambray. The one marked in red indicates the gunpowder which existed in the original designs whereas the one in yellow is Marandon’s proposal.
(Courtesy of the National Library of Malta, Valletta)
Joseph Scicluna appraises Chevalier Jacques François de Chambray’s gift to the island of Gozo and the unique gunpowder magazine built for it
As the military began to rely more heavily on gunpowder, storage of this volatile substance became a concern. Initially, powder towers and powder houses served the purpose. The explosion of a gunpowder storage facility in Delft, in the Netherlands, on 12 October 1654, destroying much of the city, killing over a hundred and injuring thousands, made European military engineers rethink about how and where to store gunpowder. At that time, the Order of St John in Malta did not have buildings designated for the storage of gunpowder. Échaugettes were often used for that function. Although the explosion—caused by a lightning strike—of the guardiola located at the salient angle of one of Valletta’s counterguards, in 1662, did not immediately bring about the disuse of such structures for gunpowder storage, it prompted the knights to identify locations for constructing dedicated facilities.1
Joseph Scicluna received his tertiary education at the University of Toronto and at the University of Malta. He developed an interest in Fort Chambray as of an early age, growing up in Għajnsielem, Gozo. In 2009, he began researching the history of the fortress and the knight who financed its construction. His highly acclaimed book, Jacques François de Chambray: The Order he served, the Island he loved, and the Fort he built, published by Kite Group in October 2023, won the National Book Award 2024 in the Historiographical Research category, presented by the National Book Council (Malta).
(B.A. dissertation; Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, 2023); Maria Fsadni, ‘ 'e Filial Churches of Qrendi: History, Architecture and Works of Art’ (B.A. dissertation; Department of Art and Art History, University of Malta, 2015).
5 Among these: Rajmond Ellul assisted by Luigi Galea, Il-Parroċċa tal-Qrendi f’għeluq it-350 sena (Malta, 1968), 11-12; Mikiel Spiteri, A hundred wayside chapels of Malta and Gozo (Malta: Heritage Books, 2000), 103-105; Alexander Welsh, ‘ 'e Church of Our Lady of Mercy – Tal-Ħniena, Qrendi’, in Treasures of Malta, Vol. 9 No. 27 (Malta, Summer 2003), 11.
6 Joseph Magro, ‘Documentation Methodology: Tal-Ħniena Church at Ħal Lew in the Village of Qrendi’ (Diploma dissertation; International Institute for Baroque Studies, University of Malta, 2004).
7 Leopoldo Fiteni, Le Con!ersazione di Filoteo (Malta: Tipogra)a di Francesco Cumbo, 1841).
8 Song of Songs 6: 10 (NIV).
9 Guttenberg, a German knight of the Order of St John, built his palace in the immediate vicinity of the chapel, still present today. His coat of arms depicts a oral motif of the English rose, similar to that found painted on the historical door.
Fig. 9
e altar reredos before restoration.
(Photo: Restoration and Preservation Department, Malta)
Fig. 10
e restored altar reredos.
(Photo: Restoration and Preservation Department, Malta)
Josef Kalleya, Madonna and Child, charcoal and chalk drawing on paper, signed and dated, 1973. (Private Collection, Malta / Photo: Lisa Attard)
There is an activity in the soul of man which, by separating and joining, forms different images of things, even of things not received from the senses.1
– Thomas Aquinas
Josef Kalleya’s spiritual ‘formless forms in formation’2 conjure an icon-like ‘presence of the unspeakable which springs forth from matter’.3 When looking at this intimate maternal image, the viewer is confronted with the artist’s characteristic ascetic aesthetics, creating a unique interpretation of a sacred subject.
Following the formal aspects of the charcoal and sanguine drawing, Kalleya creates two straight lines which veer off outside of the picture plane in the lower-right corner. Their trajectory alludes to a sense of closure, a convergence between the mantle and the cradle, fusing the very matter of Mary with her divine maternal role as the Theotokos, the God-Bearer. This alludes to an emergence, a sense of revelation.
Intriguingly, the work evokes an image like a scallop shell in profile, revealing its glistening pearl. The symbol of the scallop and pearl have been intertwined with mythology as well as the Christian ethos throughout art history.4 Piero della Francesca’s Brera Madonna (1472–1474) illustrates the potency of this symbol which alludes to purity, virginity, and fertility. The symbol also serves as a reminder of the power of faith, instigating a contemplation on the Verbum Dei Caro Factum Est. However, in contrast to Francesca’s crystallised symbolic representation, Kalleya’s prehistoric-like gestural marks seamlessly synthesise the scallop and the pearl with the mother, and her infant son.
In this work, Mary is the maternal shell unified with her child through the halos which bridge the ever-increasing gap caused through the act of creation and revelation. As she stoops over her child, echoing the Pietà iconography, she contemplates and embodies Dante’s theological oxymoronic paradox of being ‘daughter of [her] Son’.5 This link between Kalleya and Dante has been thoroughly researched by Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci in his Dante & Kalleya trilogy.6
Looking at this work by the artist one may also draw parallels to his ‘Mirjam Kozmika’ which, in Kalleya, becomes ‘the source provoking the cosmic creation of all the cieli.’7
The Cover
continued on the following page
The symbol of the pearl is also mythologically significant here, as it is considered to harbour a link that connects humanity to the cosmos, leading to the artist’s belief in a return to the divine; a return facilitated through Christ and a divine misericordia, 8 founded on the concept of love. This belief in the concept of love also ties into the scallop-pearl symbol in the ancient Rig-Veda hymn (c.1500 BCE and 1200 BCE) which bares striking resonances to Kalleya’s work:
[…] concealed in darkness, […] Then the One, that was hidden in the shell, Was born through the power of fiery torment. From it arose in the beginning love[.]9
In Kalleya’s oeuvre one finds a deep spiritual belief that pierces multilevels of meaning. Such works bare credit to the artist’s spiritual and artistic might. The Maltese artist offers a unique and intimate interpretation of the maternal scallop that offered the fruit of her womb, the pearl of redemption that connects humanity back to God. Kalleya’s own belief reflects on this point: ‘Il-kbir Origine ispirat mittag ħlim ta,-,ikli ko-mi,i jemmen u jsostni illi r-Redenzjoni hi l-bidu tar-Ritorn tal-kreaturi g ħal perfezzjoni [D]ivina’.10
Biennale, and was also an assistant in the Changing Gear project. His artworks can be found in several local and international private collections, and has participated in numerous joint exhibitions. Recently, Shirfield’s visual works were published in an academic publication by Professor Schembri Bonaci titled, Death Unto Boredom (2023). Shirfield is also an independent researcher who has written and published several articles as well as academic papers pertaining to twentieth and twenty-first-century art.
Notes
1 Umberto Eco, The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas, Hugh Bredin, trans. (London: Radius, 1988), 172.
2 Nikki Petroni, ‘The sketching of line as the search for truth,’ introduction in Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, Scratches and God, and Some Lines (Malta: Horizons, 2020), 25.
3 Egon Sendler, The Icon: Image of the In!isible, Steven Bigham, trans. (Hong Kong: Proficient Publishing Services, 1988), 82.
4 According to Carl Jung the child motif assumes all manner of shapes including a pearl. Carl G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, trans., R. F. C. Hull, 2nd ed. (London and New York: Routledge, 1991), 160.
Matthew Robert Shirfield
Matthew Robert Shirfield (b. 2000) is a Maltese artist and researcher. He attained a first-class degree in a B.A. (Hons.) in Fine Arts with History of (University of Malta, 2021) and a distinction in an M.Phil. (Trinity College, Dublin, 2022). Shirfield has worked on numerous projects including the Malta Pavilion for the 2022 Venice Biennale, was one of the project managers for the 2023 Mdina
5 Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, trans. (Oxford: Benediction Classics, 2015), 464.
6 Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, Josef Kalleya & Dante: A Child’s Tormented Soul in Paradise, 3 vols (Malta: Horizons, 2021–2023).
7 Schembri Bonaci (2021), 159.
8 Ibid., 15.
9 Jung (1991), 369.
10 Dominic Cutajar, ‘Josef Kalleya’, in Victor Fenech, ed., Malta Six Modern Artists (Malta: Malta University Press, 1991), 31.
Corrigendum
In Konrad Buhagiar’s article ‘The Prince and the Painter: Identifying the Count of Beaujolais’ (67-80), published in the last issue of Treasures of Malta (No. 90), a proofwriting error on page 78 might have given the impression that the pictured painting, attributed to Charles Allingham and possibly representing Louis-Charles, Count of Beaujolais, was painted in Malta. This was not the case. The painting, rather, was left a while untouched where it had been freshly painted, and only brought over to Malta some years later.
Our sincere apologies to the author, and we regret any misunderstanding our oversight might have caused.
On Flowers and Fury
Floriana & il-Furjaniżi A Tri-Centenary Commemoration
reviewed by Rachel Radmilli
Editors: Joan Abela and Giulia Privitelli
Published by Gazzetta ‘IL-FURJANA’, 2024
592 pages, illustrated
ISBN 978-9918-23-135-5
Available from several local, foreign, and online bookstores
Floriana & il-Furjaniżi, edited by Joan Abela and Giulia Privitelli, is a timely contribution to an understanding of space and place in a Maltese context. The anthropological study of space shows how places—from landscape to city—offer an anchor and context for a sense of identity to emerge. Many studies have romanticised landscape while few have explored how the complexity of urban design, politics, individual drivers, and communal living, pile on to each other in an urban setting to give meaning to place. This meaning, and more, is found in this edited work.
This volume is a gem that offers a platform for the stories of a city to be told: a city of relatively fixed boundaries delineated by the fortifications which is, however, fluid and permeable when circumstance dictates. Gardens, underground logistical wonders (from quarries, to shelters, to silos, to priceless water systems), as well as spaces within and outside of the fortified walls of Floriana allow for a playful, yet very serious, navigation of belonging and appropriation of place.
The vast collection of papers in this volume provides an intensity to the discussion of the development of the city. From a physical perspective, Floriana is a political arena which, since her inception, is the product of political design and negotiation. Changes carried out were spearheaded by key historical figures; gardens were embellished by notable women, and the church found its place too, via the appropriation of Casa Manresa and the development of the parish church of St Publius. From a social perspective, chapters on collectives shed interesting light on identity creation and manifestation.
If I were to identify four key themes that run through this volume, I would suggest agency, community, urban design, and infrastructural foresight. This is a collection of essays that finally puts community and local identity at the forefront highlighting individual entrepreneurial thinking and
community spirit that spill out of the physical boundaries of Floriana as a city. Several chapters anchor the design of the city in the historical milieu at the time it was built—a time when the Mediterranean as a whole was the setting for trade, movement, and war.
The idea of agency emerges in the several chapters which discuss how many individuals with foresight and political clout defined the structure of open spaces. These spaces, in time, became the stage for diplomatic events—from the Sette Giugno funerals to Independence celebrations to papal visits and public events; a place where the cenotaph still burns in memory of the many war heroes who died in the two World Wars, and an urban context where the scouting enterprise played out across the street from the colourful world of Balzunetta with its drag bars and music halls that brought countless groups together in secular ritual. Local journals, confraternities, the football club,1 and the philharmonic society played key functions in the community at large.
Many mysteries are exposed in this book. This volume shares some wonders professionally, yet in a very personal manner. Clearly, several authors have access to the same archival sources that guard the rules which governed the design of the city. Yet, each chapter carries that common element off into so many different directions that each becomes a unique story which is testimony to the richness of this corner of urban heritage.
Another feature that appears repeatedly in many chapters, for instance, is the fountain that stands between Argotti Gardens and Sarria church—a landmark that most Maltese residents and tourists alike will have passed by innumerable times in their life. Yet, this landmark is literally the tip of the proverbial iceberg, as it is the tip of a complex system of water reservoirs that were designed to channel water—a lifeline, from the centre of the island to this densely populated political centrum, the remains of which are largely intact. Reading through these chapters takes us through a
world that has otherwise been buried both in time and place, almost forgotten.
Community is what keeps a city alive. The tangible heritage of Floriana is there, but, this time, the intangible heritage that played a (not-so) quiet role in the unfolding of Maltese history has a strong voice, indeed, multiple voices. We read so many stories on the management of food, storage, waterflows, art, and shelter; chapters on memory, the local gazette, clubs, festa, scouting, football (forever important!), events on the granaries (from political rallies, to concerts, to papal gatherings), show up the chimeric versatility of a city which is not a suburb of Valletta but a unique city made stronger by its many parts. And this edited volume shows it up.
The diversity of the chapters may well have been a logistical challenge for the editors, yet there is the same spirit which emerges from each contribution: somehow, Floriana seems to be a city that long embraced political awkwardness and provided the solutions that the country needed for life events, political events, secular pageantry, and religious ritual to take place in a contained, safe, and relatively secure manner. Some of these events could not happen elsewhere for fear of civil unrest that could have potentially erupted, or because other spaces would not be suitable. So, Floriana is leonine in a quiet yet all-embracing manner.
To quote Cyprian Broodbank: ‘Any new writing on Mediterranean history operates in the shadow of giants’.2 He refers primarily to the work of Braudel who ‘was the first to recognise the Mediterranean’s unity and distinctiveness as a field of study’.3 Broodbank goes on to show how it took a while for others to enter the field and build on the contribution of Braudel where historical enquiry was finally about ‘the pursuit of geographical, cultural, and economic dynamics more than politics. It was all about the longue durée of environmental rhythms’.4 David Abulafia,5 in turn, places the person at centre stage, looking at the people living on the shores and in the port cities around the Mediterranean basin.
In this vein, Floriana and her Furjaniżi are finally given a voice in this vast collection of chapters that tackle an extremely broad variety of subjects over different points in time, and which belong to the growing collection of works that explore this urban history in an island context.
Finally, I have a question for Abela and Privitelli: Do they have the energy required to provide a second edited volume? This tome presents so many new perspectives on untold stories, but could well deserve a sequel. The first seed is now sown and is a step towards documenting the collective memory of this gentle fortress. Ħodon Fjuri!
Notes
1 Gary Armstrong and Jon F. Mitchell, Global and Local Football. Politics and Europeanization on the fringes of the EU (London: Routledge, 2008).
2 Cyprian Broodbank, The Making of the Middle Sea: A history of the Mediterranean from the beginning to the emergence of the Classical World (London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2013), 18.
3 Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II, 2 vols (California: University of California Press, 1995).
4 Ibid.
5 David Abulafia, The Great Sea: A human history of the Mediterranean (London: Penguin Books, 2014).
After the conclusion of the centenary celebrations at the Granaries, on 25 July 1960, the statue of St Paul did not immediately return to its Valletta home, but was taken into the Church of St Publius and placed opposite the statue of St Publius. (Courtesy of Freddie Tonna)
A view of St Anne’s Square, Floriana, inscribed ‘Lith: Schranz Brothers’. This view forms part of an album called Twelve Views of Malta, drawn and published by the Schranz Brothers, in Malta, 1843.
In what can safely be called the first of its kind in the Gozitan context, Identity of an Island conceptually struck a middle ground between Gozo’s past and present. Through both a conference and an exhibition, held in May 2022, and using art as a conduit, Dr Mark Sagona created a singular opportunity for academics and artists alike to engage with the question of Gozo’s identity. That this was accomplished with great flair and resounding success was confirmed by the ensuing publication, launched in March 2023, going by the same name.
Historically, islands have been treated as distinct places and, with this, the idea of insularity—the condition of belonging to/or being of an island1—has often been romanticised, at times mythologised, and tendentially associated with otherness. Gozo, as Ogygia, the island of Calypso, knows that fate only too well.2 But beyond setting distinctions, insularity can also be a story of connections: the space in between, the sea in which islands bathe, can provide links rather than divisions, motivating and maintaining informal and formal connections to the mainland (or in our case main[is]land).3 Indeed, rewording poet John Donne’s famous words, no island is totally an island.4
While numerous islands of identity have developed over the course of Malta and Gozo’s history, as evinced by parochial particularities, community idiosyncrasies, and especially party politics, to name a few, Malta largely evolved as a country of islands bound more by similarities than distinguished by differences. In this sense, the endemic notion of Gozo’s double insularity, barring certain aspects, might be more of a misconception than a fact. This is the key theme that connects the eight contributions emerging from the prestigious conference ‘The Artistic Legacy of Gozo’ (May 2022), found in the first part of the publication. The contributors present the reader with specific examples from the local artistic and art-historical scene which attest to an
Identity of an Island Gozo: Art between Past and Present
reviewed
by Simone Azzopardi
Editor: Mark Sagona
Published by Midsea Books and Teatru Astra, Malta, 2022
176 pages, illustrated
ISBN 978-99932-7-909-9
.25
Available from Midsea Books and Teatru Astra
identity of an island that is at once Gozitan but also Maltese, vernacular but also sophisticated, provincial but also cosmopolitan.
For centuries, religious tradition intrinsically cast the mould of Gozo’s artistic sphere. Borrowing a line from one of the contributors: ‘Within the context of ecclesiastical art, where the relationship between producer, consumer, and intention is very much codified, […] visual conventions are hard to break’ (page 19). This was a tradition long in the making, marked particularly by the Italian Baroque which strongly influenced the Maltese artistic scene of which Gozo was very often an extension.
As Dr Frederica Agius explores, throughout the seventeenth century and by the turn of the eighteenth, prominent patrons on Gozo had entrenched Maltese Baroque art in the island’s main churches, by and large, the only centres of sophistication, the chief channels for artistic patronage. On the one hand, Gozo’s alleged insularity did not see, because it could not afford to, the creation of a distinctive Gozitan artistic narrative and style. Economically constrained, with a population that barely exceeded 15,000, Gozo of the late modern period5 was not impregnable with prospects and opportunities for cultural enrichment.
On the other hand, however, these challenges would not force Gozo to lag: the artistic legacy of artists such as Mattia Preti, Giuseppe d’Arena, Stefano Erardi, Gio Nicola Buhagiar, Francesco Zahra, and Carlo Zimech attests to a Gozo which moved in step with the artistic currents that featured in Malta, at least where sacred art was concerned. As Dr Mark Sagona further elaborates in his work, this was also true for the decorative arts scene in Gozo in the nineteenth century. Meanwhile, Gozo saw the development of another facet of its artistic identity as commissions for objets d’art by leading decorative practitioners of the day increased and became more sophisticated.
That two of Gozo’s very own pioneering artists of the turn of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries were priests, besides also architects and designers, is quite unsurprising, if still fascinating. This is especially true when one looks closely, as Charles Cassar did, at the designs of the churches which Canon Salvatore Bondì and Don Giuseppe Diacono are credited for. Making up all major churches that were erected in Gozo in the nineteenth century and first decades of the twentieth, these two artists’ talents transcended their generations to define the Gozitan aesthetic that is now threatened by engulfing buildings on the periphery of village cores.
Onward to the mid-twentieth century, artist !u-eppi Briffa ventured to depart, in subtle if determined ways, from what Gozitan society had conformed with for centuries. This was all the more daring considering that some of Briffa’s Gozo works which nudged the artistic status quo were commissioned on an island whose conservatism set it apart from Malta (which by the 1970s featured the first defining thrusts of secularisation).
And yet, as Dr Christian Attard’s analysis shows, through careful consideration, Briffa managed to revive the old with carefully executed strokes of non-conformity so that his art interjected change without upsetting the traditional viewer.
The insular-cosmopolitan strain combined with the traditional-contemporary debate becomes more relevant in Frank Portelli’s works for Teatru Astra. The decorations of Portelli, the artist to whom this publication is being dedicated, were deemed as avant-garde by the standards of 1960s Gozo. Prof. Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci transports us to Portelli’s artistic universe, featuring philosophical-cosmological beliefs which he expressed through his relatively radical interjection of cubism in his designs. This juxtaposition between the conventional and the innovative is also treated by Prof. Conrad Thake in his examination of the pioneering architectural works of Joseph Huntingford and Julio Lafuente. Huntingford challenged the typical
neo-classical style of the British period with the modernist design of, chief above others, the Qala school and Malta Dairy Processing Plant in Xewkija. Lafuente even dared to recast the island’s landscape with the 1967 proposal of a hanging hotel embedded in Ta’ /en, cliffs. This area’s sensitivity was spared destruction in the 1960s, given that Lafuente’s project never materialised, but which sadly has not been spared the pressure of current-day urban encroachment.
This interaction and altercation, between tradition and innovation, indeed between altering altars, is explored more specifically by Dr Nikki Petroni through the works of contemporary Gozitan artists Austin Camilleri, Mark Sagona, and Victor Agius. Using the altar as a stage, a symbol of the religion that defined the lexicon of national identity in the past, the artists transgress tradition and religion to provoke a newness with which to bridge the chasm between Gozo’s past and present identities.
The need to showcase identity, in a strong effort to celebrate it in its multiple forms rather than fossilising it, is all the more relevant at a time when several components which make it up are seemingly slipping away. Nicoline Sagona deals with this point through an analysis of the making of the Gozo Museum. Dating back to the 1960s, the efforts to maintain and expand the collections of this museum might not have been consistent, but they led ultimately to the present project which, for the first time, will house a collection of pictorial works of art. It is hoped that this space would serve the significant purpose of preserving Gozo’s material culture and identity for the future.
But the future is not a different place from now, nor is it an undiscovered country.
Just as the conference proceedings in this two-part publication connect us with the past, the ensuing ‘Alternative Perspectives’ section showcasing contemporary artists’ works alerts us to the imminent need to connect with the island’s present and future. I now turn my attention to this second part.
At the risk of sounding cliché, ‘Quo Vadis Gozo?’ is a sub-theme under which many of the exhibition works could easily be classified. Gozo has long been changing, but gradual development and rupture tell a different story of change. The current frenzied development manifest especially in the
construction industry, otherwise presented to us as Gozo coming-of-age, has disoriented, alienated, and disenchanted most.
With unsustainable demographic explosions incongruent with the islands’ capacity to withstand it, construction overkill, dilemmas over airstrips and tunnels, and yet more botched village skylines, any discussion on contemporary Gozitan identity must by necessity revolve around the inevitable: Gozo is fast becoming paradise lost. In a bid to make everything out of Gozo, we have made it smaller, limited its potential, and caused an identity crisis of an island. In this context, ‘Alternative Perspectives’ doubles up as a contemporary critique of, and an attack on, the alternative Gozo that has transpired from multiple sources and definitions of progress. It is the Gozo-wide protest which never materialised in our streets.
The multi-layered multimedia in the several spatial meanderings of Teatru Astra which housed the exhibition throughout May 2022—reproduced so evocatively by the photographer, designers, and publisher— engage the inquisitive mind in a running conversation between the respective artists and their expressions. Connecting themes of alternative perspectives prevailed in the shades of darkness, in the darkness of shadows, in concrete and cement, in steel, stone, and salt. The visual effect of these works morphed into emotions casting sadness and fear, concern and anxieties, anger and despair, but also in other instances, hope, the need to believe, and the necessity to act. The works voice a protest call, executed in such a silent but effective manner that the noise it produces is shattering, for those who care to listen.
Those other works that do not, at first sight, deal with this broader theme are no less relevant to it. On the contrary, they connect with it indirectly and as poignantly, through the stimulation of nostalgia, the appreciation of history, the re-definition of religion and religious expressions, the commentary on blind reverence to politicians, and the question of migration, ever so pertinent in Gozo’s post-Second World War past, but equally relevant to current times when, insularity explored in its opposite meaning, becomes a space from which to escape in the search of new existential perspectives.6
Through Identity of an Island Gozo was regenerated. The objective is not to preserve
Gozo as a relic of the past but to allow it to grow at its own pace. Without appropriating a moral high ground or adopting a holierthan-thou approach, the academic and artistic expressions we have revisited extend an invitation to undertake an introspective examination of our role in the remaking of Gozo’s identity.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr Mark Sagona as editor, curator, academic, artist, and above all colleague and friend, for having granted me the opportunity to connect so intimately with the question of Gozo’s identity through this review. As a historian, activist, and Gozitan, I heartfully appreciate the efforts made by Mark and everyone involved to pull off an initiative of this scale and value.
Notes
1 Karen Fog Olwig, ‘Islands as Places of Being and Belonging’, Geographical Review, Islands, Vol. 97 No. 2 (2007), 260-270.
2 John Vella, ‘Homer’s Ogygia: an Imaginary or a Historiography’, Athens Journal of History, Vol. 3 No. 1 (2007), 49-70; Joseph Attard Tabone and Rene Rossignaud photographs; Hubert Cini and Victor Mercieca, Gozo: The Island of Calypso (Malta: Miller, 2009).
3 Louis Sicking, ‘The Dichotomy of Insularity: Islands between Isolation and Connectivity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, and Beyond’, International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. 26 No. 3 (2014), 494-511.
4 John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1623): ‘no man is an island’.
5 Howard Bowen-Jones, John C. Dewdney, and William B. Fisher, Malta: Background for Development (Durham: Durham University, 1962), Table 24.
6 Giuseppina Semola, ‘Insularity and Cosmopolitanism: Islands of the Mediterranean’, Journal of Global Cultural Studies, Vol. 17 (2022), 134-148.
Close Encounters with Maltese Folk Music –Vol. XXX, No. 1, 30-39
Amodeo, Margherita
Art in All Forms: The Work and Life of Blanche Ellul Sullivan – Vol. XXX, No. 1, 40-50
Baldacchino, Nicole
Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz (1713–1772): Views of Europe and Beyond –Vol. XXX, No. 3, 32-45
Barton, Mark; Davies, Franco Maltese Maritime Swords from French to Modern Times – Vol. XXX, No.1, 90-101
Bonello, Giovanni European Fortuna of Caravaggio0s Beheading of St John – Vol. XXX, No. 3, 22-31
Borg, Joseph Richard Demarco: Fostering Cross-Cultural links between Malta, Scotland, and Beyond –Vol. XXX, No. 1, 18-28
Bugeja, Anton
The Earliest Known Photographs of Ħa1 ar Qim – Vol. XXX, No. 2, 20-32
Buhagiar, Konrad
The Prince and the Painter: Identifying the Count of Beaujolais – Vol. XXX, No. 3, 66-80
Casha, Kevin
A Lifetime of Dedication (I): An Outstanding Collection of Historic Cameras in 2 ejtun –Vol. XXX, No. 2, 60-64; A Lifetime of Dedication (II): Fascinating Gems in Paul Vella0s Camera Collection –Vol. XXX, No. 3, 54-60
A Subject Index to the Illustrations in Treasures of Malta, Vol. XXIX –Vol. XXX, No.1, 102-103
Treasures of Malta, Vol. XXIX –Vol. XXX, No.1,104, 109
A subject index to the illustrations in Treasures of Malta, Vol. XXX
Paul Xuereb
Abstract art, Untitled [Vertical Development] print, Victor Pasmore, 30:1, 29
Art from Malta exhibition (1970), Exhibition catalogue cover, 30:1, 2
Attard, Caesar, artist (b. 1946), Photograph with Gabriel Caruana and Alfred Chircop, 30:1, 26
Azzopardi, Karmen, actress (1933–2022), Azzopardi as Lena in Francis Ebejer’s play Vaganzi tas-Sajf (1962), 30:2, 56
Bardon, Salvatore, doctor and surgeon, Portrait, painting, unidenti)ed artist, 30:2, 66; Certi)cates of Bardon issued in 1818 and 1819, 30:2, 67
Beuys, Joseph (1921–1986), artist, At the residence of John Martin with Maltese artists Emvin Cremona, Mary de Piro, Richard England, Gabriel Caruana, and others, 30:1, 25
Books, Covers of six books by Francis Ebejer, 30:2, 58; Hunting Season, illustration designed by Francis Ebejer for the cover of his book L-Imnarja żmien il-Qtil (1997), 30:2, 58
Butter ies, Sketch depicting the life history of the swallow tail butter y, Guido Lanfranco, 30:3, 49
Byron, George Gordon, Lord (1788–1824), Portrait, engraving, William Hall, a(er a painting by George Sanders, 30:3, 75 Cades, Giuseppe, engraver (1750–1799), Self-portrait, painting, 30:2, 49
Cameras, General view of Paul Vella’s camera collection in 2 ejtun, 30:2, 60; Wooden Delta Stereo camera, 30:2, 63; John Pigot half-plate model, 30:3, 54; 'ornton Pickard ‘College’ wood and brass half-plate, 30:3, 56; Wood and brass Lancaster Instantograph, 30:3, 56; Carl Zeiss Jena Werra, 30:3, 57; W. Watson half-plate wood model, 30:3, 57; Rollei ex 3.5 Model K8T1 twin-lens re ex, 30:3, 58; ERAC Auto Winder Mercury 1 Supercamera, 30:3, 58; Advert of Expo Watch Camerta Spy of 1917, 30:3, 59; Linhof Teknika IV, 30:3, 60
Caruana, Gabriel (1929–2018 ), Photograph with Alfred Chircop and Caesar Attard, 30:1, 26
Casa Manresa, Floriana, Details of the painting on the vault of the refectory in this building, Pasquale Leonetti (attrib.) probably 1760s, 30:2, 42-43, 46-47
Churches, Church of St Joseph, Manikata, exterior view, 30:1, 18; Church of St Paul, Rabat, façade, 30:1, 65; St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral, Valletta,
Photographs and diagrams related to the restoration of the church’s steeple, 30:2, 33, 35- 36, 38-39, 41
Clothing, Stomacher, embroidered, eighteenth century, 30:2, 87
Coins, Obverse and reverse of a Spanish coin from the time of Charles V, 30:1, 88 Cremona, Emvin (1929–1987), artist, Cremona with colleagues, Gabriel Caruana, Joseph Beuys, and others, 30:1, 25
D’Aubusson, Pierre, Grand Master of the OSJ, 'e Grand Master receives Prince Cem, colour lithograph based on an engraving in Guillaume Caoursin’s 1496 book on the siege of Rhodes, 30:3, 13 De Beaujolais, Louis-Charles, Count, Portrait thought to be of Beaujolais, unknown artist, painting, 30:3, 66-67; and a comparison of the face in this portrait with that of the Pradier marble sculpture, 30:3, 69; Marble e3gy of the Count de Beaujolais, on his tomb, St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, 30:3, 72; Anonymous steel engraving of James Pradier’s plaster-cast copy of the Beaujolais tomb in Randan, c.1840, 30:3, 73; Bust portrait of Louis-Charles included in Bust Portraits of &ree Brothers, Antoine-Philippe d’Orleans, lithograph, 30:3, 74; Silhouette image of Beaujolais’ head, William Hamlet the Elder, 30:3, 74
De La Salle, Enrico, Portrait, Domenico Micallef, a(er Antoine de Favray, painting, 30:2, 70
Demarco, Richard, artist (b. 1930), Demarco with Richard England, photograph (1969) 30:1, 21
Ebejer, Damian, artist (b. 1961), Francis Ebejer and his son Damian Ebejer, photograph, 30:2, 55
Ebejer, Francis, author and artist (1925–1993), Portrait, photograph (1991), 30:2, 52; Monument to Ebejer, in Dingli, Anton Agius, bronze, 30:2, 54; Francis Ebejer and his son Damian, photograph, 30:2, 55; Francis Ebejer with the cast of his play Meta Morna Tal-Mellieħa, at a rehearsal (1976), 30:2, 56; and with the cast and production crew of his play &e Cli angers (1968), 30:2, 56
Ellul Sullivan, Blanche (1907–2002), Selfportrait, painting, 30:1, 43; Blanche with her sisters Margaret and Yvonne Ellul Sullivan, photograph, 30:1, 50 England, Richard (b. 1937), artist and architect, photograph with Richard Demarco (1969), 30:1, 21
Eve, Eve in the Garden of Eden (1977), Giuseppe Bri4a, painting, 30:2, 86
Falzon, Ignazio, Blessed (1813–1865), Photograph taken shortly a(er his death, 30:3, 63
Fish, eighteen kinds of )sh illustrated in colour, Guido Lanfranco, 30:3, 53
Flowers, Paintings by Blanche Ellul Sullivan: Ephemeria, 30:1, 40-41; Dancers in the Light, and Light and Shadow, 30:1, 46; 'e Giant Orchid, Guido Lanfranco, watercolour drawing, 30:3, 46
Folk music, Toni Cachia ‘il-Ħammarun’ and Karl Partridge playing the żaqq and the tambur, 1972, 30:1, 30; Francesco Sultana cra(ing some (ejguti, 30:1, 32; Martin Buhagiar making the ceramic kabar (drum) of the żafżafa, now in the Museum of Folklore, Victoria, Gozo, 30:1, 33; A set of żummara, Arundo donax (qasab) tube, twentieth century, 30:1, 34; A set of four (ejguti and a saqqafa b’waħda/Qrajna, twentieth century, 30:1, 35; Maltese folk instruments exhibited at Esplora, Kalkara (2020), 30:1, 36
Forti&cations, 'ree di4erent features of Mdina forti)cation walls mentioned in various maramma works of the late )(eenth century, 30:1, 86; Chaucer’s Tower near Benham, Antoine-Philippe d’Orleans, lithograph, 30:3, 76
Fungi, A lifelike model of a Boletus mushroom, 30:3, 49
Furniture, Ecclesiastical, Silver sanctuary lamp (c.1666), Melchiorre Cafà and an unknown Maltese silversmith, 30:1, 68; Two silver candlesticks belonging to the Archconfraternity of St Joseph, Rabat, 30:1, 73; 'istle-shaped sanctuary lamp (1718), 30:1, 74; Silver reliquary containing a relic of St Joseph’s sta4 (1715), 30:1, 75; Spearhead (crocetta) on a processional banner (pre-1781), 30:1, 77; Silver-)ligree reliquary (undated), 30:1, 78
Ħa'ar Qim, 1861 photographs by 'omas Phillips and George Morgan: Fallen megaliths within the apse, 30:2, 20-21; Panoramic view of the façade, 30:2, 22-23; Stereoscopic view of part of the interior, 30:2, 24; Entrance to a space in Ħa1 ar Qim (a) as it is today (b) in the 1861 photograph, 30:2, 25; An eroded stone resembling a lion or sphinx, 30:2, 26; Remains of the lower part of a large two-)gure sculpture, 30:2, 31; General plan, 30:2, 28-29
Treasures of Malta 91, Christmas 2024
Headgear, Hat worn by Blessed Ignazio Falzon, 30:3, 62, 64-65
John the Baptist, Saint, Gilt statue of the saint holding the Lamb, 30:2, 76; Beheading of the saint, depicted in various paintings by Tiepolo, Marco del Pino, Filippo Paladini, Pasquale Buhagiar (attrib.), a follower of Hendrick ter Brugghen, Giulio Cassarino (attrib.), Giovanni Mannozzi, Francesco Mazzucchelli, called ‘Il Morazzone’, Massimo Stanzione, Giovanni Lanfranco, François Perrier ‘Bourguignon’, Francesco Ma4ei, Giuseppe d’Arena (attrib.), Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre, and Gian-Nicola Buhagiar (attrib.), 30:3, 22-31
Joseph, Saint, E3gy of the saint on a silver medallion (1697), Carlo Troisi, 30:1, 71; E3gy of the saint with the infant Jesus on a silver medallion, 30:1, 76
Knights of St John, Portrait of Viceroy Antonio Maria Bucarelli y Ursua, Francisco Antonio Vallejo, painting, 30:3, 35
Lanfranco, Guido (1930–2021), sketching the Giant Orchid, 30:3, 47 Manuscripts, Inventory of 1781 listing the Rabat Archconfraternity of St Joseph’s silverware, 30:1, 72; Receipt signed by Carlo Troisi for works made on commission to the Archconfraternity of St Joseph, Rabat, 30:1, 78; Score of Beatus Vir (1652) by Giuseppe Balzano, 30:1, 106; Badait Patologia Chirurgica, 30:2, bound text, and shown opened, 30:2, 68-69
Maltese militia, A Birkirkara Regiment militia soldier, 30:1, 92
Maps, Detail of the Barbary Coast, Mediterranean, on a )(eenth-century Catalan world map, 30:1, 81
Marines, Sergeant Major in a marine battalion, Hospitaller era, unknown artist, watercolour, 30:1, 96 Marseille, View of the Entrance to the Port of Marseille, Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, painting, 30:3, 32-33
Men, Standing male nude (1930), Giuseppe Bri4a, painting, 30:2, 82 Mérimée, Prosper (1803–1870), Medal showing Mérimée’s head, Pierre Jean David d’Angers, bronze, 30:2, 11; Portrait of Mérimée as a young man, engraving, unknown artist, nineteenth century, 30:2, 12; Mérimée’s copy of Velazquez’s Las Meninas, 30:2, 14; Mérimée’s copy of Caravaggio’s La Decollazione del Battista, 30:2, 16-17; 1853 photograph of Mérimée, 30:2, 18 Mourning, Mourning-ring worn on the little )nger in the portrait of the Count de Beaujolais, 30:3, 71; Mourning ring for Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, 30:3, 71
Musical performers, Tricia Dawn Williams performs on a toy piano at the 'ree
Palaces Festival, 30:2, 93; Gaby Sultana plays Euchar Gravina’s Medea at Palazzo de La Salle, 30:2, 92
Opera, Clare Debono and Ra4aele Giordani in Mozart’s Apollo et Hyacinthus (Teatru Manoel, 2024), 30:3, 86; Elisa Balbi and Nico Darmanin in Donizetti’s Armida (Teatru Manoel, 2024), 30:3, 87; Miriam Cauchi and Andrés Moreno Garcia in Valeriana (Teatru Manoel, 2024), by Joseph Vella and Christopher Muscat
Palazzo de la Salle, Sala dei Cavalieri in lengthwise view, 30:2, 72; View of the Sala’s ceiling, 30:2, 74-75; Restoration work at the Sala dei Cavalieri, 30:2, 77
Paul, Saint, Shipwreck of St Paul in Malta, Stefano Erardi (1678), painting, 30:1, 64; Sts Paul, Agatha and George helping the Maltese to defeat a 1429 Moorish razzia (1956), Giambattista Conti, painting, 30:1, 82
Pinto da Fonseca, Manuel, Grand Master of the OSJ (r. 1741–1773), Portrait, Domenico Micallef a(er Antoine Favray, painting, 30:2, 73
Pokerwork, Daphne and the Deer, full-length screen of pokerwork and oils on wood, Blanche Ellul Sullivan, 30:1, 45
Poutiatine, Nathalie, Princess (1904–1984), Some of Poutiatine’s compositions and notes from her teaching journals, 30:1, 54-55; Signed certi)cate by Madame Egorova for Poutiatine’s attendance to her school, 30:1: 56; Class-notes on exercises at the barre, 30:1, 58; Poutiatine in practice clothes, 30:1, 60
Qala, Road to Qala, Gozo, Richard Demarco, drawing 30:1, 22-23
Relics and reliquaries, Gilded reliquary made to house St John the Baptist’s hand (1683), Ciro Ferri, bronze and gilt silver, 30:3, 10-11; 'e translation of the Baptist’s hand at the palace in Constantinople, depicted in a medieval manuscript, c. 1126–1130, 30:3, 12; 'e reliquary of the right hand of St John the Baptist (1756), depicted by Alberto Pullicino, watercolour, 30:3, 15-16; 'e reliquary of the right hand of St John the Baptist, engraving in a 1755 book by Paolo Maria Paciaudi, 30:3, 17; Engraving depicting the presentation of the Baptist’s hand by the Ottomans to the Order of St John’s ambassador, in Guillaume Caoursin’s 1496 book on the siege of Rhodes, 30:3, 19; 'e processional transfer of the relic of the Baptist’s hand to the Church of St John, engraving in Caoursin’s 1496 book, 30:3, 20 Soldiers, Re-enactment featuring men
of the castrum maris in the early )(eenth century, and an attempted reconstruction of the dejma men, 30:1, 84; Maltese Light Infantry, early British era, 30:1, 97
Street scenes, Knife grinder and other street life (1975), Guido Lanfranco, oil painting, 30:3, 51
Swords, Four British naval swords in di4erent patterns: 1805, 1827, and 1846, 30:1, 90-91; French 1783 model cutlass, 30:1, 92; A known Maltese naval o3cer’s sword, 30:1, 93; 'e key identifying mark of the Royal Dockyard Battalion, 30:1, 94; 'ree variations of Royal Dockyard Battalion’s swords, 30:1, 94; Royal Dockyard Battalion cutlass, 30:1, 95; 1845 naval cutlass, 30:1, 95; Two cutlasses held by the Malta Police, 30:1, 99; An 1804 pattern cutlass, 30:1, 99; Current pattern on Malta Armed Forces blades, 30:1, 100-101; Markings on swords used by Armed Forces of Malta O3cers, 30:1, 100
Stephen, Saint, &e Martyrdom of St Stephen (1681), Mattia Preti and bottega, painting, 30:1, 67
Still life art, Bread, Butter and Knife (1940s), Marigolds and painting items (1950), Onions (1952), A Bomblu, Cabbages and Cauli(owers (1944): four paintings by Esprit Barthet, 30:1, 51-53
eatre posters, Poster for Teatru Manoel’s production of Francis Ebejer’s Il-)aħan ta’ Binģemma (1985), 30:2, 58
Tombs and funerary monuments, Drawing by Giorgio Grognet of a project for a tomb for Louis-Charles de Beaujolais, graphite, pen, and watercolour, 30:3, 70
Toulon, View of the Old Port of Toulon, Morlete Ruiz, painting, 30:3, 36-37
Valette, Jean Parisot de, Grand Master of the OSJ (r. 1557–1568), Portrait, Domenico Micallef a(er Antoine Favray, painting, 30:2, 73
Valletta, Scots Street (1970), Richard Demarco, etching, 30:1, 20
Vella, Paul, collector, Portrait as a young man, 30:2, 62; Vella with Kevin Casha, 30:2, 64
Virgin Mary, Virgin and Child with St Philip Neri and St Anthony the Abbot (c.1664–1666), Stefano Erardi, painting, 30:1, 67; Image of the Virgin on a silver medallion (pre-1697), Carlo Troisi, 30:1, 78
Women, Yvonne in Pink, Blanche Ellul Sullivan, painting, 30:1, 48; Artworks by Giuseppe Bri4a: Study of a female nude (1922), 30:2, 78-79; Study of a female nude (1928), 30:2, 80; &ree studies of a reclining female nude (1930), 30:2, 83; Study of a female nude (1950s), 30:2, 84; Reclining nude (1968), 30:2, 84; Portrait of Doña Maria Tomasa Duran Lopez de Cardenas (c.1762), Morlete Ruiz, painting, 30:3, 34
95 · Treasures of Malta 91, Christmas 2024
Cultural Review
Cecilia Xuereb shares her views on a rare operatic event performed at the Teatru talOpra Aurora, Gozo, last October
In 1631, a group of Italian knights invited actors, musicians, and singers from Italy to put on a performance of a dramma per musica to be performed in their auberge as part of their entertainment for carnival, a custom that survived for practically a hundred years until the opening of the Teatro Pubblico, in 1732. Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena, who commissioned the theatre, was himself an opera lover and made sure that opera productions were held regularly at the theatre. This introduced opera to a Maltese audience, who quickly fell under the spell of this new genre, that has remained popular ever since. Eventually, under British rule, a new and larger opera house was constructed at the entrance of Valletta, but tragically destroyed during the air raids of 1942. Opera once again returned to the stage of the Teatru Pubblico, by then referred to as the Manoel Theatre.
For several years, the Italian Government heavily subsidised opera seasons at the theatre. At one point, however, such financial concessions stopped and audiences started to lose interest. This was partly due to costs but also since audience expectation regarding singers and staging of grand opera had increased—a factor that the Manoel Theatre could not address as technical facilities were limited. Opera seasons thus stopped. Instead, opera was replaced by mostly random productions, held in various venues around the island which were hardly suitable for opera production.
The situation changed dramatically between 1976 and 1978 when the Leone and the La Stella Philharmonic Societies in Gozo decided to present opera in their two large theatres in Rabat—Teatru Aurora and Teatru Astra. These productions quickly became popular and attracted large audiences of Maltese opera lovers. At first, standards were not high. Often the main singers would be international stars, but the other roles, the choruses, as well as the production, were rather poor. Nonetheless, the two theatres continued with their annual opera productions presenting mostly popular works in the opera repertoire. Funding depended on sponsorships and voluntary work by members of the respective clubs. Staging was always lavish, even if traditional.
Over the years, however, both theatres as well as the Gaulitanus Choir, that joined in with its own annual opera production, have become more professional. Substantial government subsidies and the engagement of more professionals, both on stage and in design and direction, have raised the bar to imitate more closely those of international
opera houses. More recently, another change was introduced. Though the staging of the works of the most well-known and popular composers, especially Italian romantic and verismo operas, is still high on the agenda, the artistic direction has become more adventurous, reflecting international trends.
During the second week of October, Teatru Aurora presented its annual opera production. The choice fell on a work by Puccini, a much-loved composer with the Maltese, and whose first centenary since his death is currently being celebrated. Yet, what was presented was not one of his more popular operas—Bohéme, Tosca, or Turandot—but three one-act operas, the last complete works which Puccini wrote to be performed as one bill under the title of Il Trittico. The three works, though sharply contrasting, are linked by the themes of death and love. Yet, the three operas are rarely performed together. Indeed, the individual operas have been previously performed as separate bills in Malta (Il Tabarro in 1924, Suor Angelica in 1957, and Gianni Schicchi in 1928). However, they certainly were never collectively performed locally prior to this year’s production at the Teatru Aurora in Gozo.
Artistic director Riccardo Buscarini, together with stage and lighting designers Mike Zerafa and Moritz Zavan Stoekle, and costume designer Luke Azzopardi, gave great importance to the contrasting atmosphere of the three operas. The first one, Il Tabarro, relates the story of Michele, still in love with his wife, Giorgetta, who, however, has frustrated desires of a more passionate kind of relationship and a more exciting life. Michele’s jealousy when he suspects that his wife is betraying him simmers until it becomes an obsessive and, ultimately, murderous passion. This leads to the murder of his wife’s lover, whose corpse he covers with a cloak (il tabarro)—the same one he used to protect Giorgetta from the cold, and which he throws on her when she eventually finds out about the murder. The atmosphere was very dark. Buscarini retained the setting of the libretto—the sordid life of Paris bargees on the river Seine. The scene was acted out against a minimalist set, mostly black, and complemented by the black costumes of the bargees. The only bright touch on stage was Giorgetta’s costume, expressing her freer spirit. On-stage murder in Il Tabarro is replaced by on-stage suicide in Suor Angelica,
Giorgetta’s costume was the only bright touch in a very dark production of Il Tabarro.
(Photo: David Agius–Hush Studio)
After a frantic search Gianni Schicchi’s will is found.
(Photo: David Agius–Hush Studio)
the second of the three panels. Once again, the dominant colour was black, but this time the habits of the nuns were lightened by strikingly bright white headdresses. The set was an attractive garden scene that replaced the sordid environment of Parisian everyday life. Instead, here was a spiritual ambience expressed through the voices of the almost entirely female cast, through the music, as well as in the set.
At the start of the opera, the nuns are mourning the death of one of their sisters—her tomb stood out among the flowers in the idyllic setting, for life in the nunnery was a kind of death, the death of desires. But secret desires and longings are present here as well, though in a lighter tone. Passions remain an inevitable part of life, but Angelica’s emotions are those of a mother rather than a lover.
The opera is episodic and the plot rather static; the drama only really starts half-way through with the arrival of the carriage bringing Angelica’s aunt. At that point, emotions really reach a pitch, finally leading to Angelica’s suicide. Yet, Buscarini very cleverly avoided the sensation that nothing much was happening.
In the final panel of the triptych, the mood swung round to a comic story originally set in thirteenth-century Florence. By impersonating a dead man, the protagonist bequeathed to himself a handsome legacy and the best mare in Buoso Donati’s stable—a story which, according to Puccini, ‘laughed and
would make the people laugh’. Even the meanest passion—greed—unintentionally led to two lovers being brought together. The doorway between life and death had already shut, with Buoso Donati on the wrong side, although the outwitting of those less worthy is built on an attempt to deny the fact. The story is not about individuals so much as types, drawing on the Italian tradition of the commedia dell’arte
To link it with the other two panels, setting and costumes were brought forward to the 1920s. Meanwhile, the setting was neither a city nor a garden, but the domestic interior of a bedroom, and the colours of the costumes were bright. The action on the stage moved frantically—slick and very well concerted, even stylised at times. The director concentrated on the ensembles even at the expense of the main characters, including, to a certain extent, Gianni Schicchi himself who became part of the ensemble.
Music and stage direction worked together magnificently. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Colin Attard gave a detailed interpretation of Puccini’s fine music. At the time the triptych was written, Puccini still adhered to the music of the past, yet, by then, he had absorbed the influences of verismo opera. Thus, in Il Tabarro he introduced ‘sound effects’ like a car horn and a hooter, as well as an out-of-tune barrel organ and Debussy-like
chords that accompany the reference to the rummaging through rubbish of La Frugola. But the music is bleak and dark.
In contrast to the first panel, the scoring of Suor Angelica is lighter, expressed by almost entirely female voices. There is sadness and pathos, even if passions remain a disturbing and inevitable part of life. The emotions leading up to Angelica’s beautiful aria, Senza Mamma, and her subsequent suicide, are much more restrained. Finally, the music of Gianni Schicchi reveals an aspect of Puccini rarely seen in his operas—his humour. The music was energetic and ironic, funny, even burlesque at times. Puccini could not, however, resist introducing lyrical touches such as the duet in praise of Florence and Lauretta’s Oh, mio babbino caro. All these elements Attard and his orchestra expressed most eloquently.
Among the principal singers that stood out from among the other singers for their fine voices and characterful expression, I would like to single out the tenor Vitali Kovalchuk, as Luigi, and baritone Armando Pina Lopez, both in Il Tabarro, and soprano Renata Vari as Suor Angelica. These three singers also sang in the other operas. In Gianni Schicchi, the artistic director’s emphasis on the ensembles came at the expense of the music. The various themes in the score, the ironical music, the love themes, the hymn to Florence, were all but lost to the action on stage. Even Rinuccio (Federico Buttazzo) and Lauretta (Laura Esposito), the two lovers, lost their individuality to the extent that Lauretta’s heart-stopping beautiful aria, O babbino caro, failed to leave the lasting impression it deserved.
The minor characters, both foreign and local singers, sang and acted with great confidence throughout. Notable among them was mezzo-soprano Graziella Debattista, who took part in all three operas, playing highly different characters. As the Rummager in Il Tabarro, she dreamt of a country cottage idyll; as the aunt in Suor Angelica, she was arrogant; and as cousin Zita in Gianni Schicchi, she was a snob. Her fine singing came across with just as much fine characterisation. Furthermore, intricate ensembles in all three operas were excellently sung and gave full support to the stories of the principal characters.
Barely a fortnight after the production of Il Trittico at the Teatru Aurora, the Teatru Astra presented another rarity: Verdi’s Giovanna D’Arco, while the second edition of Festival Malta’s Early Opera Festival in November saw the production of yet another Mozart rarity: Il Re Pastore. As for the first half of the new year, opera lovers can look forward to a new production of the Maltese composer Carlo Diacono’s L’Alpino (in January), the annual opera production by the Teatru Manoel, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Sivilglia (in March), and Gaulitana Festival’s production of Nabucco, in Gozo (in May).
Graziella Debattista was an excellent foil to Angelica (Renata Vari) as the termagant aunt.
(Photo: David Agius–Hush Studio)
Calendar Highlights
A selection of upcoming events happening around Malta and Gozo over the next few months
Performing Arts
‘Tis Pantomime Season! Catch these for some family festive fun:
Red Riding Hood Teatru Astra, Gozo 22–30 December 2024 www.teatruastra.org.mt
Rapunzel – A Tangled Panto Teatru Manoel, Valletta 22 December 2024 – 5 January 2025 www.teatrumanoel.com.mt
Nokkla Safra u t-Tlett Orsijiet Junior College Theatre, Msida 22 December 2024 – 5 January 2025 www.ticketline.com.mt
Ebenezer Scrooge Teatru Salesjan, Sliema 26 December 2024 – 5 January 2025 www.tsmalta.com
THEATRE PICK
1881
Undisclosed location, Ħ ’Attard 31 December 2024 – 2 March 2025
Inspired by international large-scale immersive theatre, live-action role play, and the high-stakes intensity of video games, 1881 is more than just a show; it is an entryway to a forgotten dimension where time and space warp around your every move, pulling you into a world of ritualistic encounters and sensuous experimentation. www.teatrumalta.org.mt
(fin Days 2025
An annual programme that brings choreographers who are making their mark in the international dance scene to Malta. ŻfinDays 2025 features new works by Liliana Barros (Portugal/Germany), Simon Riccardi Zani (France/Malta) and the re-creation of Somiglianza by Kor’sia (Italy/Spain).
Valletta Campus Theatre, Valletta 21–23, 28 February; 1–2 March 2025 www.zfinmalta.org
Fiddler on the Roof
This much beloved classic, tells the poignant story of Tevye, a humble milkman, and his struggle to maintain his Jewish traditions amidst the sweeping changes in turn-of-thecentury Russia.
Teatru Astra, Gozo 22–30 March 2025 www.teatruastra.org
Chicago the Musical
The longest-running musical currently on Broadway is coming to Malta! On this European tour, the audience can enjoy the original Broadway production, with a cast of outstanding performers selected from the West End and Broadway elite. With music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and script by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse.
Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta 27-30 March 2025 www.mcc.com.mt
Is-Surmast
Trevor Zahra’s comedy based on his novel of the same name about an eccentric headmaster of a public primary school.
Teatru Manoel, Valletta 4–6 April 2025 www.teatrumanoel.mt
The Italian Tenors
Luca Sala, Sabino Gaita, and Evans Tonon, will showcase the brilliance of their renowned arias, beloved Neapolitan classics, captivating ‘popera’, and a delightful array of surprises that promise to leave audiences in awe.
Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta 21 December 2024 www.mcc.com.mt
Glenn Miller Orchestra
The ensemble will perform a fantastic selection of songs from Glenn Miller’s incredible repertoire, along with a few special arrangements of Christmas classics.
Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta 28 December 2024 www.mcc.com.mt
MPO Chamber Concert Series –Saxophone, Violin and Piano Trio
Three of Malta’s foremost young musicians present a programme of works which explore the dynamic relationship between the violin, saxophone, and piano. Samuel Mallia, Stefan Calleja, and Francis Camilleri take on Dmitri Shostakovich, Nikola Resanovic, Jean-Luc Defontaine, and Russell Peterson.
Robert Sammut Hall, Floriana 5 January 2025 www.maltaorchestra.com
MUSIC PICK
Valletta Baroque Festival
Around Malta 9-25 January 2025
Organised by Festivals Malta every January, the festival highlights the enormous versatility of the baroque idiom and its mass appeal. The festival’s strength lies in the wonderful baroque settings that one finds around Malta creating a unique event and featuring some of the best soloists and ensembles in the baroque music scene. www.festivals.mt
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Gioachino Rossini’s most famous comic opera, composed when he was twenty-four, is based on Pierre Beaumarchais’ 1775 French comedy. The story follows Count Almaviva’s efforts, aided by the clever barber Figaro,
to win Rosina’s love despite Dr Bartolo’s attempts to marry her himself. Directed by Denise Mulholland.
Teatru Manoel, Valletta 13 March 2025 www.teatrumanoel.com.mt
Visual Arts
Body & Vessel
This exhibition celebrates the 10th year anniversary of tattoo artist Rebecca Bonaci, showcasing her evolution as an artist through a collaboration with THISS Clay. Body & Vessel aims to merge the two traditional artforms of tattooing with the tactile and visual qualities of ceramics, to create a dialogue between the two mediums.
Malta Society of Arts, Valletta
Until 18 December 2024 www.artsmalta.org/events
The Search for Happiness
The exhibition explores the transformative power of art, highlighting its ability to uncover beauty in unexpected places and reveal charm in what may initially seem ugly or unpleasant.
Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta
Until 12 January 2025 www.kreattivita.org
TOPIA
Inspired by Maltese shopfronts on a visit to the island in 2019, London-based artist Barnaby Barford embarked on a journey across every town and village in Malta and Gozo, amassing over 11,000 photographs of shops, creating a portrait of contemporary life on the islands. These photographs have been used to make 1,000 handmade bone china buildings, each representing one of the shops he encountered.
MU2 A, Valletta
Until 19 January 2025 www.heritagemalta.mt
The Spazju Kreattiv Art Collection
This Open Research Project continues its archival journey, dedicated to preserving the legacy of the organisation and showcasing significant artworks donated to Spazju Kreattiv over the past twenty-five years.
Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta 10 January – 2 March 2025 www.kreattivita.org
The Sound of You Dreaming
Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta
17 January – 9 March 2025
In this solo exhibition which is accompanied by a series of auxiliary events—including a film screening, poetry recital, and panel discussion— Paul Scerri delves into the topic of dreams and the many questions they pose. Curated by Gabriel Zammit and assisted by Anthony Borg Wirth. www.kreattivita.org
On Screen
The Tales of Hoffmann Juan Diego Flores leads a fantastic cast in Offenbach’s dream-like opera. Directed by Damiano Michieletto.
Eden Cinemas, St Julians 15, 19 January 2025 www.edencinemas.com.mt
Aida
American soprano Angel Blue headlines as the Ethiopian princess torn between love and country in a new production of Verdi’s Aida.
Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta 25 January 2025 www.kreattivita.org
Romeo and Juliet
Kenneth Macmillan directs the greatest love story ever told for the Royal Ballet.
Eden Cinemas, St St Julian’s 20, 23 March 2025 www.edencinemas.com.mt
