Most people in Malta must have seen, maybe unknowingly, one of the many works of the Maltese artist Giuseppe Calí (1846-1930). He was an exceptional artist who was also a very prolific. Almost every church in Malta prides itself of one of his works. This is the case of the parish church of St Lawrence in Gozo where Cali had painted four side altar paintings and the titular painting of St Lawrence Martyr. The restorations of these five paintings were entrusted to PrevArti Co. Ltd following a call for tender by the Local Council co-financed by the European Union (ERDF). The restoration started in September of 2010 with the restoration of the four side altar paintings and we are now towards the end working on the titular painting of Saint Lawrence Martyr, which will be ready for the coming feast.
Personally, I think that the titular painting is the most impressive from all and each minute spent in the cleaning process of this painting is very rewarding to me and my team. The angels surrounding the martyr are especially outstanding. I must admit that the other reason that we are enjoying so much working on this painting is because it is the only one out of the five paintings that was not previously restored. In fact, the most challenging part during this restoration project was to carefully remove the overpainting done in the 80s. The paintings had also evidence of insect attack and were treated using the anoxia method by SalvArti Co. Ltd.
Since PrevArti has worked on numerous paintings by Cali during the last seven years, the experience gathered from these restoration projects was very fruitful in comprehending the deterioration of the paintings but also to know what you (as a conservator) will be expecting to find when you will be removing previous restoration interventions. In fact, most of Cali’s ecclesiastical paintings around Malta and Gozo where overpainted in the 70s-80s to cover certain defects in the paintings pertaining to his technique and materials used which often caused ‘drying cracks’. [The wall paintings by Cali in Lija parish church which we have recently started its restoration is another case in point].
Another challenging process during the restoration of the side altar paintings was the removal of candle wax drops accumulated during the years, as the paintings had candelabras in front of them. In fact, one particular painting was actually got on fire in the past causing blistering of paint and irreversible damage at the lower side of the painting. The reintegration of such losses was needless to say very delicate and time consuming.
Personally, I believe that the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance, but their inward significance. May we all have the Grace to understand deeply the spiritual significance of our religious art to help us getting closer to Our Heavily Father.
Pierre Bugeja is Senior Conservator-Restorer/Director at PrevArti Co. Ltd
www.prevarti.com