An initiative of the Embassy of Malta in Berlin has resulted in two prominent Maltese ‘Caravaggio’ academics being engaged to deliver presentations about the Italian ‘Baroque’ artistic giant at the world-renowned Urania Scientific Lecture Centre in Berlin. On 6 and 13 November, Keith Sciberras and Philip Farrugia-Randon will address a demanding Berlin audience on various aspects of the life and work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, focusing specifically on the artist’s stay in Malta.
The Urania Scientific Lecture Centre is a unique centre for scientific endeavour from all fields of knowledge, it being the first popular science centre of the world. Since 1888, renowned scientists and Nobel Prize winners have lectured there on their latest findings. Lectures and discussions deal with politics, the economy, culture, scientific expeditions and social problems. ‘Urania’ also serves as a first class location for exhibitions and film screenings.
Philip Farrugia Randon’s presentation will consist of a dramatic narration in the first person singular personifying Caravaggio himself. The presentation will be illustrated by over 200 slides and supported by special sound effects. The narration offers a closer look at the artist’s only signed masterpiece in Malta, the Beheading of St John the Baptist. Philip Farrugia-Randon is co-author and editor of Caravaggio in Malta and author of Caravaggio, Knight of Malta. Apart from being a keen watercolorist, he studied restoration of oil paintings on canvas in Florence.
Keith Sciberras will discuss recent discoveries concerning Caravaggio’s ‘Maltese period’, thereby placing his paintings within the context of chivalry. The lecture will deal with recent evidence found in the context of Caravaggio’s sojourn in Malta, raises questions about his ‘motives’ for coming to the Maltese islands and, finally, place in context the crime he committed in Malta which ultimately led to his disgrace and daring escape to Sicily. Keith Sciberras is Director of the Caravaggio Studies Programme at the Department of History of Art at the University of Malta and specialises in baroque art. He has published extensively on the subject and has lectured at numerous institutions in Europe and the USA. Together with David M. Stone, he co-authored: Caravaggio – Art, Knighthood and Malta.
The ‘Caravaggio’ lectures at Urania represent the latest in a series of specialised lectures by Maltese experts and academics meant to promote cultural tourism in Malta in the German capital.