Portraits of about 2,000 people, who played a prominent role in shaping Malta's history, have been brought together in one book that offers a first-time visual narrative of the country's past and present.
The National Portrait Gallery of Malta, published by Miller Distributors, is essentially a coffee-table museum that offers readers the experience of walking through an art gallery as they leaf through its pages.
Admiral Sir Alexander-Ball and Prof Roger Ellul Micallef
"Author Nicholas de Piro and his enthusiastic team visited hundreds of collections and have created a national monument which replaces the need of yet another museum. The book is both useful in triggering our abilities of estimation and serves sentiment, education, emotion, opinion, attitude and diversion," said Mr Joe Vella, Editorial Coordinator.
Giovanni Bonello and Andrew Borg Cardona
It took Marquis de Piro and his team 10 years to complete their research that culminated in an artistic catalogue, that can be described as the face book of Maltese history. The book includes photographs, paintings, drawings, sculptures and even caricatures of people ranging from across hundreds of centuries, the earliest portrait being that of Count Roger.
Daphne Caruana Galizia
Marquis de Piro said the collection, photographed by Peter Bartolo Parnis, offers a broader spectrum than anything of this sort published before. "It carries almost 2,000 portraits, giving us the opportunity to examine the aspirations, the pretensions, the sophistication and even the naïve in and around our people over a period of many generations. The book is politically conscious and very broad-minded but it remains basically an art book. The National Portrait Gallery of Malta is an exciting project which was a pleasure curating. It's an ideal gift, not only for art lovers, but also historians, interior decorators, stylists, the young and the nostalgic," he said.
Lou Bondi and Dr Tonio Borg
Miller Distributors will be launching the book at the Malta Book Festival where book signing sessions will be held. The fair will take place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre between November 4 and 8.
The book, that costs €120, will be available from early November in all leading bookshops and all Agenda Bookshop outlets across Malta and Gozo. An early-bird offer, of €99, is available for those who pre-book their copy from any Agenda Bookshop outlet or by visiting www.agendamalta.com.
Marquis Joseph John Scicluna
Anglu Xuereb and Charles Thake
Dr Helena Dalli abd Dr Gianella de Marco