Antonio Espinosa Rodriguez
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Art Antonio Espinosa Rodriguez he earliest artistic manifestations in in Malta and produced a number of T Malta date to prehistoric times. This is stylised flat terracotta figures and testified by a rich archaeological heritage decorated their potte.ry with an ornate consisting of a variety of decorated clay sharp geometrical motif. and stone artifacts and a series of The eclectic Phoenicians made their first impressive megalithic structures. The appearance in Malta some time round the potter's craft developed into an expression year 700 B.C. With their trading wares of cultural vitality materialised through a they brought new customs and fashions. At series of patterns and decorations that Tas-Silg, near Marsaxlokk, they erected a reflect successive aesthetic requirements. sanctuary in honour of the goddess The Impressed Ware of the early neolithic Astartes. With time Malta's link with the farmers of the Gliar Dalam phase Punic world, particularly Carthage, grew (5000-4500 B.C.) was superseded by the closer. Personal jewellery, amulets, prosaic forms of the Grey Skorba phase ornaments and a few surviving architectural (4500-4400 B.C.) and enlivened by a bright remains betray the egyptianizing forms red slip in the course of the so called Red favoured by this Semitic people. The Skorba phase (4400-4100 B.C.). Meanwhile impressive baked clay anthropomorphic man discovered the art of modelling sarcophagus found at Ghar Barka near anthropomorphic figurines. However it was Rabat dating to the fifth century B.C., is during the Temple Period (4100-2500 B.C.) illustrative of Egyptian influence. On the that prehistoric man in Malta poured forth other hand a few imported bowls found in an extraordinary civilising energy that took tombs, the typology of certain locally the contours of greatness. manufactured pottery and a pair of marble Beside the master potter there developed candelabra, with Greek and Punic a race of builders and stone carvers whose inscriptions dedicated to Herakles-Melqart, inspired daring and skill are vouched for by indicate some form of contact with the the monumental temples of Ggantija, Greek world. Mnajdra, Hagar Qim, Tarxien and a string In 218 B.C. Rome conquered the of less known sites. Buildings that are Maltese Islands from the Carthaginians. reputedly amongst the finest and oldest Roman rule was to last some six hundred stone edifices in the world. Here the · years. Notwithstanding its provinciality and sculptor carved into the soft globigerina relative isolation there is evidence of lively limestone uncanny abstract and figurative artistic activity in Malta. Excavations relieves and statuettes in the round that vie carried out in 1881, at Rabat, revealed with the best of modem art. in the fragments of the rich mosaic pavt:rnents of hallowed underground environment of the a patrician town house. Dating to the first Hal Saflieni Hypogeum architecture and century A.D. these mosaics are composed stone carving were fused into a single act in the refined opus tessel/atum and opus whilst complex spirals, executed in red vermiculatum techniques and show a high ochre, testify inherent painterly practices. degree of workmanship. The Roman baths The succeeding Bronze Age people built, at Ghajn Tuffieha were likewise at Borg in-Nadur, the earliest fortifications embellished with mosaics. Architectural 143 ·fragments confirm the former existence of practice was the use of underground lavish buildings. The tombstone of a cavities as dwellings and churches. One of musician and comedian and other the earliest paintings in Malta is the late archaeological evidence indicate that thirteenth century image of the Virgin and Roman Malta had its own theatre. Notable Child in the rock-cut sanctuary at Mellieha. amongst the extant statuary of the period Of special interest is the Crucifixion and are the portrait bust of Antonia the Annunciation, probably dating to the Younger and the head of Emperor fourteenth century from the apse of the Claudius. Cicero in his prosecution against crypt adjoining the Abbatija Tad-Dejr Caius Verres describes the latter's pillage catacombs now removed and exhibited at of works of art from the temple of the National Museum of Fine Arts. These Astartes, which by then had been and other surviving troglodyte murals, rededicated to Juno, her Roman notably those in St Agatha's Crypt at counterpart. Rabat, betray the iconography and formal Christianity made its first appearance hieratic composition of the Siculo during the Roman domination. Traces of Byzantinesque School. Pertaining to the ·early Christian art are evident in same tradition but dating to the late underground cemeteries called Catacombs. fifteenth century are the frescoes adorning Fragments of murals, graffiti and carvings the wayside chapel of the Annunciation at stand witness to the desire of translating Mal Millieri near Zurrieq. into visual forms the prayers of the faithful The avowed St Luke Madonna in the and the Christian message of eternal life. Cathedral at Mdina is a beautiful and Unfortunately most of these works are now refined Byzantinesque panel whose in a dilapidated state and consequently sophisticated execution suggests Sienese their artistic evaluation is difficult and and International Gothic influences. problematic. However, their quality Similar artistic traits appear in the superb appears to range from the purely naive Virgin of Mercy with SS. Paul qnd carvings of the Mal Resqun Catacombs to Augustine now in the sacresty of the the ornate sophisticated forms noticed in Augustinian Church at Rabat. This was the decorations at the Abbatija tad-Dejr originally a polyptych of which a fourth and Salina Bay Catacombs. Tracts and panel, depicting St Catherine, also traces of wall paintings are still visible in St survives. Another altarpiece dating to the Agatha's Catacombs at Rabat. middle of the fifteenth century and of The vestiges of an early Christian which four panels are still extant is to be basilica and baptistery, uncovered at Tas found in the parish church of St George at Silg, and the above mentioned Catacombs Qormi. The central scene represents an are remnants of palaeochristian artistic extraordinary Lamentation. Here the practices. On the other hand a few painter conveys, through the emaciated tombstones - of which the elegant body of Christ and the intense doleful Maimuna's Stone is the best known expressions of Mary and her companions, example - a silver ring, and some bits of a heavy atmosphere charged with strong pottery, is all we have to attest to the emotional piety and pathos. The entire ._;~'tn. .... ~~ 1 1"'1"'\T"r\'l"'t.l.av nfh~r-.h ;nrolnrl.aco C!+ }.1.1.'-'r...V.I. .U;4.l ~V.I..I..l}-'.1.'-'.1'\. YY ..lJ.J. .... J..l .l.I.J. .... .I.UU"'~ U\. the Maltese Islands. George, St Gregory and a Crucifix As Mario Buhagiar rightly points out in encompass Byzantine spirituality with his authoritative The Iconography of the International Gothic narrative zest. Maltese Islands no painting, excluding The splendid St Paul Polyptych, now at fragments extant in Christian catacombs, the Cathedral Museum, was the former can be dated to before the late Middle reredos of the Cathedral Church. It is a Ages. A common Maltese Mediaeval work of great beauty attr.ibutable to the 144 circle of the Catalan painter Luis Borassa Greek Catholic Church of Valletta and a (1360-1426). Nothing is known of its early set of French illuminated choral books history but given the subject and commissioned in 1521 by Grand Master iconography it must have been purposely Philippe Villiers de L'Isle Adam. commissioned for Malta. The central In the wake of the Order of St John panel, representing St Paul in Majesty, is there came a large group of retainers and surrounded by ten other smaller panels. followers including skilled craftsmen. One Significantly one of the scenes recounts the was a certain Nicola Caccialepre who in apostle's shipwreck in Malta. 1535 carved a marble stoup for the chapel Notwithstanding the loss of its original of Santo Spirito Hospital. The influential framework and the damage brought about Sicilian sculptor Antonello Gagini by the passage of time it still has the power (1478/79-1536) had in 1504 produced a fine to arrest and impress the beholder. marble Madonna and Child for the Throughout the Middle Ages Malta Franciscan Church of Santa Maria di Gesu received its artistic stimulus via the nearby at Rabat. Now at the demise of Philippe larger island of Sicily. The 'Messina' Villiers de L'Isle Adam in 1535 the same painters, for instance, introduced artist was commissioned to execute the innovative late fifteenth and early sixteenth funeral effigy of the Grand Master. century modes. Antonio de Saliba Another work generally attributed to (1466-1535) and Salvo d'Antonio (active Gagini or his workshop is the fine marble 1493-1526) had intimate family links with Baptismal Font in the Cathedral at Mdina. Antonello da Messina (c. 1430-1479) and Artistic links with Sicily continued their art is closely related to that of the through the early years of the Order's rule. great Renaissance master. Both artists In 1551 Can. Giuseppe Manduca received Maltese commissions. Antonio de commissioned an altarpiece for the Chapel Saliba executed in 1517 an altarpiece for of St Agatha in Mdina from an unknown the church of Santa Maria de Gesu at painter of Sicilian extraction or training. Rabat whilst Salvo d' Antonio produced, in Thus sifted late Renaissance models 1505, a polyptych for the Benedictine Nuns percolated into Malta receiving, in the of Mdina. One other Sicilian painter active process, a local mannerist twist that in Malta just prior to the coming of the resulted in the admixture of retardataire Order of St John was the Syracusan and innovative features.