International Institute for Baroque Studies
The Journal of Baroque Studies Number 03 Volume 01
University of Malta 2015
191pp
If there is a great work of art in Malta that is definitely world-class, that is certainly The Beheading of John the Baptist by Caravaggio that is the glory of the Co-Cathedral in Valletta.
A brilliant (in my opinion) article in this edition of the Journal is that by Angelo lo Conte (unfortunately we are not given any biographical information about the authors).
He focuses on two works of art that portray acts of terrible actions, both dutifully taken from the Bible: the beheading of the Baptist by Caravaggio and Judith beheading Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi in the National Museum of Capodimonte near Naples.
We have grown used to see portrayals of acts of terrible violence such as murders committed by Isis but these two world-famous paintings show acts of equally graphic violence.
What we may not know is the fact that the two paintings were created by their authors in the throes of extreme violence. In other words, there was violence in the background that created these two violent paintings.
We may know the background to Caravaggio's Beheading. Following the killing of Ranuccio Tomassoni in Rome on 28 May 1606, a bando capitale was issued in his regards. This was equivalent to a capital sentence. Caravaggio was running away from this when he came to Malta in 1607.
His mind was all in a turmoil, his paintings in this period exhibit a psychological situation obsessed by ideas of death and violence.
This may also be seen from his signature in blood coming from the Baptist's head showing the enormous anxiety of his tormented soul.
In all probability, Caravaggio got the idea of a signature in blood from paintings about a Lombard saint, Peter of Verona, who just before he was killed wrote 'Credo in Unum Deum' in his own blood.
There is also, dating from around this time, a Caravaggio painting of David with the head of Goliath (Galleria Borghese) in which the severed head of Goliath is the head of the artist himself, dripping blood - a premonition of death and a desperate request for forgiveness.
On to Artemisia Gentileschi. This exceptional artist was the only daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, a painter and a friend of Caravaggio. Apart from following Caravaggio's lead in crude realism and vivid blood in her paintings, she was also influenced by a rape suffered at the age of 17 in May 1611 committed by her father's colleague, Agostino Tassi, who collaborated with Orazio in the fresco decoration of the Casino delle Muse (now Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi.
She took out her rage and anger (there was also a long trial which also marked her character) in the extreme violence she exhibited in her interpretation of the biblical theme of Judith beheading Holofernes. Artemisia painted two versions of the subject, one at Capodimonte and one at Florence's Uffizi whereas at our national Fine Arts museum we have a copy by French painter Valentin de Boulogne. Of the two, the painting in Naples is the one where we feel her anger, her thirst for vengeance. This is understandable when we consider it was painted just a few months after the rape.
Of more specifically Maltese interest, this volume contains an essay on the tapestries in St John's Co-Cathedral by the curator, Cynthia de Giorgio. The last time the tapestries were hung in the church was in 1990 when Pope St John Paul II visited Malta. A special huge hall is now being prepared to house them.
The St John's set consists in 29 pieces of which 8 depict New Testament scenes from the life of Christ and 6 depict allegorical representations of the Eucharist which the Council of Trent had just defined as fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church.
The set was the gift, the 'gioia' of the newly-elected Aragonese Grand Master Ramon y Perellos and were woven in Brussels by the weaver Judocus de Vos between 1699 and 1701 arriving in Malta on 7 February 1702.
Theresa Vella writes about the St Michael Archangel altarpiece in St John's. Long considered to be by Mattia Preti, Ms Vella proves this is not by Preti at all.
In any case, the painting in the Chapel of Provence is a copy of a Guido Reni original in the Capuchin church of Santa Maria della Concezione in Rome (A copy is also to be found in St Peter's Basilica).
A strong case to conclude this painting is not by Preti is that Preti did not do copies whereas this painting is an exact replica of the Guido Reni original. It has now been ascertained this painting/copy was a gift by Fra Commendatore Orsi, a Grand Cross of the Order, to Grand Master Lascaris for his private collection. But Lascaris in turn donated the painting to the Chapel of Provence. This happened in 1653 and when one considers that the next Grand Master, De Redin, commissioned Preti to paint St Francis Xavier (and later the masterpiece that is St George and the Dragon) for the Chapel of Aragon leads to the conclusion that the Orsi gift was the beginning of the transformation of St John's from an austere church to a glory of Manierist art.
Petra Caruana Dingli writes about the travel of Ludwig von Anhalt-Kothen between 1579 and 1650, a description in verse written years later. The German nobleman did touch Malta in his Grand Tour but we find very little references to this island in this account.
Dr Rebecca Hall writes about child prodigy and also composer Elizabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, who was brought up in the opulence of Versailles in the reign of Le Roi Soleil.
Mevrick Spiteri and Daniel Borg write about the formation of the architect-engineer, 'perito' and 'agrimensore' and their regulation by the Order in 18th Century Malta.
And finally Giuseppe Mrozek Eliszezynski writes about Andres de Velasquez and the trial against the Duke of Osuna and Francesco Frasca writes about the Chevalier ideal and military ethics in the France of the Roi Soleil.