Last Sunday, the Roman Catholic Church celebrated the feast of the ‘Presentation and Purification’, also known as Candlemas. The conservation of the fabulous vault painting of the Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple, in the Church of Our Lady of Victory, in Valletta, is being brought to a magnificent conclusion. A leading component of the restoration project by Din l-Art Helwa for the historic first church of Valletta is the conservation by the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, of its unique vault paintings.  This has been made possible through the support of the HSBC Malta Foundation.   

Freed of centuries of grime, inappropriate over painting and damaging varnish, as well as salt efflorescent resulting from water infiltration, the ‘Presentation of the Virgin’ reveals a rich tableau painted with great movement, colour and flourish by Alessio Erardi, a Maltese artist whose work is now being revalued by art historians. Lisa Shekede, senior Courtauld conservator working on the project said:  “Our team has worked for four months on this particular scene which was in a very bad state. The challenge was to ensure we did not lose any of the original Erardi paint when removing varnishes, salts and over painted layers. The result is that what we can now see is only the original.  The colours that have emerged are magnificent.”

The image shows the Virgin as a young maiden being presented to Simeon at the Temple accompanied by her father and mother, St Joachim and St Anne, escorted by candle bearers while Archangel Gabriel watches overhead.

Grand Master Ramon Perellos commissioned the vault paintings in 1714 to the Maltese baroque artist, Alessio Erardi, who painted episodes from the life of the Virgin on the ceiling in grand monumental proportion. Perellos funded the work personally, continuing the tradition of the great devotion the Order of St John has for the Blessed Virgin and following in the footsteps of Grand Master de Valette.  The founder of Valletta and hero of the Great Siege had built the original church with his own funds in 1566 after he dedicated his victory of 8th September 1565 to the Virgin Mary. 

The church of Our Lady of Victory is open from Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 4pm with Holy Mass daily at 8.45am and on Saturday at 7pm. On weekends the church is open from 10am to 4pm.