Many valuable and famous local paintings, although admired in crowds by tourists, too often go forgotten and unappreciated by the locals. Artist Madeleine Gera revisits some art treasures which are just a bus ride away - and muses on their beauty and intrigue
Perhaps this article should be called “Some of my favourite paintings”. There are so many paintings I enjoy looking at again and again and there are a few I always return to. Those I discuss here are a bus ride away and definitely worth a visit, or even two… I have tried to assemble a short list of paintings, some on public view at the Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta and it is from a painter’s perspective that I write about these canvases.
Christ holding the cross by Guido Reni The National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta
A full-length figure in a magnificent contrapposto: Christ’s arm creates a circular space which is echoed by the shape of the loin cloth tied around his hips. The light is soft and diffused and part of his figure is painted in shadow, with glazes helping to create a sense of depth and space. The section of Christ’s figure receiving most light is his torso which is exquisitely modelled and partly lost-and-found – disappearing, but not entirely so, behind his cross. Christ’s face wears a peaceful expression. He is resigned to his fate - even embracing it.
The equestrian altarpiece of St George by Mattia Preti St John’s co-Cathedral, Valletta
I have always had a special liking for paintings of men astride a great horse. There are a number which immediately come to mind: the famous Titian of Charles V and, later, The Duke of Lerma painted by Rubens when he was sent to Spain on a diplomatic mission by the reigning Duke of Mantua.
Mattia Preti’s St George is of the highest quality. It won him the much sought-after commission to paint the great vaulted nave of the highly prestigious Conventual Church of the Order of St John (today’s St John’s co-Cathedral). St George is being given instructions by an angel and he is partly covered in a fluttering blue length of drapery while his chivalric suit of armour glints through effectively. The damsel in distress is making a discreet appearance. Is he going to save her? But the focus is predominantly on St George. In the distance, a landscape in soft pale tones creates deeper perspective, giving breadth and depth. Several other lesser mounted figures are also in evidence. St George’s white horse is monumental and would have been popular with the chivalric Knights of St John. What I like most about this painting is the composition and the striking rendition of the horse, which looks like it might be a candidate for a great piece of sculpture.
St Jerome by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Museum of St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta
Caravaggio’s St Jerome was one of the masterpieces that the artist created while in Malta. The picture of the holy scholar was painted for a patron, Frà Ippolito Malaspina, whose coat of arms is on the wooden panel to the lower right of the canvas. It has been said that the picture is a portrait of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt. Similarly, Van Dyck used the sister of the Queen of England as a model for his Madonna.
Caravaggio is also known to have painted his lovers, even prostitutes, as saints and Madonnas. This added to the controversiality of his work. What I love about this painting is the artist’s “paint quality”: how he employed paint to the canvas and not the type of paint he used. One must focus on the marks he made with his brush, translating what he was seeing into oil on canvas. Caravaggio’s power of observation and his technical mastery are outstanding. Observe the tones around the cheek bone and the deep eye socket, more defined with age; the thinning grey beard painted in stages till the effect intended is achieved, in contrast to the ochre skin of an elderly person. Clearly, this is no idealisation. Notice the folds and sagging flesh and the red flesh tones in those worn hands, a warrior’s hand. Hands are always “redder” in appearance because of blood collecting under the influence of gravity. St Jerome is draped to the waist, and the skull indicates that he is contemplating his mortality.
Martyrdom of St Catherine by Mattia Preti The National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta
Paintings of martyrdoms were a great favourite of the Counter Reformation. Preti has depicted the appealing figure of St Catherine at the centre of the canvas; the figure of the executioner is on the right, closer to the spectator than Catherine. Perspective here creates a remarkable optical illusion allowing the artist total freedom to indulge in the drama he is creating.
What I particularly love about this painting are the luminous flesh tones on Catherine’s torso set against a dark cobalt blue sky. There is a strong patch of light on her forehead and alizarin glazes on her cheeks, eventually forming part of a shadow shape under her chin and up to her left shoulder.
The executioner’s figure is lit from the left, and the dark shadow-shapes on his back are contrasted with ochre red. His is a daunting figure of virile strength, and he is about to inflict a deadly blow… Executions similar to this were not infrequent at the time; should one wonder whether Preti would have witnessed a similar macabre scene and used it as a source of inspiration for his work?
Madeleine Gera’s paintings feature in art collections in Malta, Sweden, Germany and the U.S. She recently produced two large solo exhibitions - at the Malta Chamber of Commerce in 2004, in collaboration with The Hospice Movement, and in 2005 at the magnificent Villa Gourgion’s Gallery G. in Lija. She was commissioned to paint a portrait of President Edward Fenech Adami, which she painted at his official residence, San Anton Palace, in Attard. In 1992 Madeleine Gera illustrated parts of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, and in 1985 the cover of Beginning Philosophy by Rev. P. Serracino Inglott. http://www.madeleinegera.com