Drawing Meaning to Drawings A Sketch by Francesco Zahra (1710–1773)

Roger De Gaetano

One of the most prolific Maltese artists in Malta during the eighteenth century was undoubtedly Francesco Vincenzo Zahra, born in Senglea on 15 December 1710. Considering the reasonable volume of paintings executed by him, on the contrary, fewer are the drawings certified or attributed to him. Relying on those drawings published as autograph works,1 one finds that he used chalk or pen and ink mingled with coloured chalks, and often included applications of fine wash.

The drawing (Fig. 1) depicting the transition of the corpse of St Catherine to Mount Sinai, published here for the first time, reveals a technique typical of a mid-eighteenth-century North Italian hand, possibly Genoese. This preparatory drawing, executed in pen and ink, enriched with touches of strong red chalk, is indeed by Francesco Zahra and is related to his successful painted representation executed for one of the chapels within the parish church of Żurrieq, dedicated to the same saint (Fig. 2). For this church, Zahra was also commissioned a painting depicting St Catherine’s martyrdom— commissions which, I believe, were affected around the 1750s. The cult of St Catherine of Alexandria was widely spread throughout the Maltese Islands, indeed, since the early fourteenth century, with several churches dedicated to her.2

The handling in the drawing is swift, non-academic, and highly motivating. If one wishes to consider the level of draughtsmanship of this master one must delve into the expediency and seriousness of his style exemplified in this remarkable sheet. It demonstrates his freedom from his tutor, Gian Nicola Buhagiar (1698–1752). In this preparatory sketch he crystallises his primo pensiero in an unprecedented way, probably beyond his own expectations. Features, such as the elegant, pointed feet, free handling of locks, and sparks of ink, occupy the sheet with an exquisite flair. The richness does not only rest on Zahra’s handling but also on the composition in which figures entwine in tender and friendly postures, till then unseen locally amongst Maltese masters and his contemporaries. This drawing speaks of the final episode of the saint’s dramatic life. She is also generally well represented in known iconography disputing the elders.3 Her destiny was