It is not generally known that Malta spent a total of 400 years under the Aragonese, making the Spanish the overlords who held Malta the longest, bar the Romans - longer than the British, and the Knights.
Yet the Spanish connection to Malta is incredibly overlooked.
For the second year, the Spanish embassy held a seminar to highlight the links between Malta and Spain over the past, especially in the cultural sphere.
The day-long seminar, organised jointly by the Spanish embassy and Heritage Malta, took place at the Aula Magna of the Old University in Valetta last week.
Introducing the seminar, convenor and co-ordinator Sandro Debono wrote that the study of Spanish art in Malta has been increasingly attracting attention over the past years. Spanish art works have been identified, studied and published. The patronage of Spanish art, including imports, is also better known.
The Spanish influence did not end with the end of Malta within the Holy Roman Empire, as there were Spanish grand masters of the Order, like de Redin and Perellos, who was responsible for the arrival of a silver reliquary of St Vincent Ferrer.
Also Spanish was the hermit Benegas who fostered the devotion to St Paul in Malta with the establishment of a College next to the Grotto where the saint allegedly lived during his stay in Malta.
Another reliquary is that dedicated to St Ursula which has recently been cleaned and which is on an altar in the Gozo Cathedral.
Devotions which were popular in Spain found their way to Malta, especially the Virgin of Sorrows such as are found in the Ta Giezu church in Valletta and St Philip Church in Senglea.
In the Baroque age, there was a florid exchange through trade between Malta and Spain, through the exportation of cotton to Barcelona in the 17th century and through parallel links with Valencia, Alicante, Cadiz etc and the trade of textiles and luxury goods between Catania and other cities in Sicily and Spain.
One of the foremost Maltese artists of the time, Mariano Gerada, worked as a sailor on board brigantines, then spent some years attached to an artist from Valencia and then came back to Malta where his work can be admired in the church of St Paul Shipwrecked in Valletta.
His oeuvre in Malta is not well documented but statues by him in Cospicua and in Zejtun. At the latter place, there is a crucifix 75cm high which seems to have been done by him, as well as a rather strange statue of Christ on all fours picking up his clothes.
Antonio Espinosa Rodriguez gave a thorough exposition of the history of Spanish painting in Malta's history.
He began by showing the Coat of Arms of Carlos I, otherwise known as Emperor Charles V, which is at the Mdina Cathedral Museum and which was formerly in the old cathedral.
Also in the Mdina museum there is a triptych with the Resurrection, the Dormition of the Virgin and St Michael, painted in the late 14th Century in Valencia.
And in the same museum there is the famous St Paul polyptych which was formerly the main altarpiece of the cathedral before the 1693 earthquake.
The National Museum of Fine Arts has many paintings by Spanish artists such as de Ribera, who came to Malta from Spain through Naples. Many paintings in the National Museum of Fine Arts are in the Zammit Clapp bequest.
Mr Rodriguez pointed out that a painting in the Presidential Palace, identified only as a 'Spanish Infante' is actually boy-king Charles II at a time when he was already king. He had an unfortunate life, left no children and died early. The painting needs cleaning and given a better attribution.
The head curator for Italian and French 17th Century paintings at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Andres Ubeda, spoke about Spanish painter Pedro Nuñez de Villavicencio who was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period. He was born and died in Seville, trained by Murillo, who was named a knight of the order of St John. With the order he performed duties in Malta, where he met Mattia Preti.
In particular, the speaker dwelt on the close, almost incestuous, relationship between de Villavivencio and Luca Giordano. There is evidence they improved each other's paintings. In particular, there is a huge painting in the Prado which seems to have been enlarged by another hand, probably Luca Giordano.
In Malta, many of his works are to be found in the Porto Salvo church in Senglea (St Philip) and in Zejtun.
The last speaker in the morning session was Dr Willam Zammit, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences at the university, who spoke about Cardinal Joaquin de Portocarrero.
This Spanish grandee was born as an aristocrat, lived like a soldier and later became priest and later a cardinal.
He was an extremely rich person with cultured tastes. Along the line, he became a knight of Malta and as a cardinal wore the red rocchetta with the Maltese Cross on it, a rare habit.
Although as a cardinal he lived mainly in Rome, he never forgot Malta and in his lifetime and after his death many of his treasures found their way here.
The bequest of his books formed the initial core of our Bibliotheca, along with the inheritance of the French knight de Tencin. The Spanish cardinal left no less than 4600 books to Malta including forbidden books like Diderot, whose famous Encyclopaedia is present in the first edition at the National Library. Many books were about art, with Vasari present in an illustrated volume; along with books about architecture comparing Vitruvio, Palladio, Vignola etc.
Some books were remarkable in their bindings, end-plates, and leather bindings.
The cardinal died in 1760 and his death was celebrated with great solemnity in St John's although he was not buried in Malta.
He was also very interested in scientific advances and along with his books, he left many scientific instruments to the Bibliotheca. Unfortunately, none of these have survived. Among the scientific instruments he left there were telescopes, microscopes, optical equipment, time measurement instruments etc.
The cardinal also left a quantity of silverware which he bequeathed to St John's and which is now lost. He also left a carriage which was brought to Malta but no one knows anything about it. He also left a quantity of old coins and medals.