The Chamber of Advocates recently unveiled the newly restored portrait of Judge Vincenzo Bonavita. The painting, one of the oldest items in the collection of artefacts housed inside the Chamber of Advocates’ premises, underwent a conservation and restoration procedure thanks to a generous donation by two of the judge’s descendants, brothers Roger and Martin Vella Bonavita.

The first Bonavita to come to Malta was a Venetian Judge named Biagio who was married to Isabella from Forli and settled in Malta in 1600. The Bonavitas flourished in Malta and were mainly lawyers, judges and notaries. Vincenzo Bonavita (1752-1829) had the distinction of serving as Judge under the Knights of St John, the French and the British. He also served as the first Procurator of the “Sodalita di Sant’ Ivone di Malta” which was set up in the early 19^h century at the Jesuits Church in Valletta by a body of jurists, judges and advocates.

Roger Vella Bonavita explained how he and his brother Martin, who both moved to Perth in Western Australia in the early 1980’s, only learnt of the existence of this painting earlier last year.

“Judge Bonavita is our great, great, great, great grandfather from our paternal grandmother’s side and the most illustrious member of our family. We would not like our family name to be forgotten and this is why when we learned that the Chamber of Advocates wished to restore his portrait, as it was not in a good condition, we offered to meet the cost. Our offer was immediately accepted and the portrait was quickly consigned to the restorers who did a fantastic job.”

Thanking the Bonavita family for their generous support towards the restoration of the painting, lawyer George Hyzler, President of the Chamber said “We are delighted to have rediscovered this painting in our collection and to have had the good fortune of finding the right support to have it professionally restored. In fact, this restoration has not only returned this prestigious painting to its original condition but has also helped us learn more about a Maltese historical figure who was also part of Malta’s judiciary in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.”

The painting was left into the able hands of professional restorers and conservators PrevArti who completed the works over the past months.

Pierre Bugeja from PrevArti, explained how the painting had a number of deformations throughout, due to the broken frame and past exposure to water; whilst the paint layer was very unstable with various losses throughout. The decorative frame was also in a bad state of conservation. Following the necessary repairs to the original canvas, the picture was re-stretched on its stretcher frame, its paint layer cleaned and the paint losses in-filled with gesso followed by a retouching process and restoration of the decorative frame.”