Download or read book Baroque Painting in Malta written by Keith Sciberras and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Baroque painting in Malta reflects that of the Italian peninsula and, in many ways, can be directly integrated within it. In terms of quantity, the island was impressively prolific. In terms of quality, works vary tremendously. There were, however, celebrated instances when the island was significantly at the forefront of stylistic development. A handful of Maltese artists worked beyond the island's shores and some, like the painter Francesco Noletti (il Fieravino), made major breakthroughs in Rome, the 'mother' of all cities. The island's small size also meant that it could be easily conditioned by one or two major artists working there. Therefore, a talented artist, Maltese or foreign, could exert tremendous influence on the stylistic currents that prevailed. The story of Baroque painting in Malta is thus marked by such artists. Contents: The pre-Baroque Years; Caravaggio; Leonello Spada; Caravaggism in Malta: Imported Works; Caravaggism in Malta: Copies after Caravaggio and Works executed in Malta; The mid- eventeenth century; Mattia Preti; The Bottega of Mattia Preti and Giuseppe d'Arena; The Erardi Family of Artists: Stefano and Alessio; The early eighteenth century; Gio Nicola Buhagiar and Enrico Regnaud; Mid-eighteenth century works by foreign artists; Francesco Zahra; Antoine Favray; Rocco Buhagiar; Giuseppe Grech; The late eighteenth century and the end of the Baroque.
Download or read book Caravaggio to Mattia Preti written by Keith Sciberras and published by . This book was released on 2015-10-31 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The title Caravaggio to Mattia Preti aptly provides the parameters that span seventeenth century baroque painting in Malta. Caravaggio s move to Malta in 1607 opened this magnificent chapter in Maltese art, to which the island responded with extraordinary artistic foresight. Malta offered Caravaggio security, but more importantly it offered him the opportunity to redeem himself. On the island, the power of Caravaggio s brush and the celebration of his virtuosity overcame the dishonour of his lifestyle, despite the fact that this materialised in a Catholic frontier country until then renowned, not for the artistic patronage of its rulers, but for its military austerity. During this period, Malta was ruled by the Knights of the Order of St John and their fascinating political context impinged significantly on the character of its art. Their political clout and their eight-pointed cross attracted other artists, including Mattia Preti, whose four-decade stay on the island defined the triumphant manner of Maltese baroque art. Preti s death on the island in 1699 came at the end of the century. This book discusses the work of the major artists who painted on the island during the seventeenth century and analyses the context in which they were produced. It also discusses paintings of importance that were sent from mainland Italy and reviews them and their critical fortune within the story of Maltese art."
Download or read book Roman Baroque Sculpture written by Keith Sciberras and published by Midsea Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, now in its second revised edition, studies the mechanics of patronage of Roman Baroque sculpture produced for the Knights of the Order of St John and discusses the extent of such patronage together with the artistic and historical importance of the works commissioned. Leading artists such as Alessandro Algardi, Ciro Ferri and Melchiorre Cafà are thoroughly examined and new attributions to others are made. Moreover, Sciberras research sheds light on the lesser known aspects of the artistic liaisons between Malta and Rome, on who took care of the Orders artistic affairs in Rome and on how these works traveled to Malta. The book divides the sculptural works of art into three categories: Those which glorified the Orders patron St John the Baptist, the funerary monuments of the Grand Masters, and those made for the service and adoration of the Eucharist. Roman Baroque Sculpture for the Knights of Malta is an outstanding work of intense research which provides exhaustive detailed information. It is also a tribute to Maltas most magnificent artistic period and to an Order that made it possible. The book is published in collaboration with the Department of History of the University of Malta.
Download or read book Caravaggio written by Keith Sciberras and published by Midsea Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Written by two leading authorities in the field, this illustrated book tells the story of Caravaggio's voyage to Malta, his interactions with the Knights and their leader Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, and the magnificent paintings he made for them." "The book presents new iconographic, technical, and stylistic analyses of all of the Maltese pictures as well as two chapters devoted to discussion of Caravaggio's importance in the history of art and the chronological problems in his late works. Based on original archival research, this study also includes an account of Caravaggio's crime in Malta, his imprisonment, and daring escape to Sicily."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Francesco Zahra 1710 1773 written by Keith Sciberras and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book celebrates the 300th-year anniversary of Francesco Zahra's birth in 1710 and seeks to show the extraordinary range of the artist's output. Zahra was Malta's most important native painter of the mid-18th century and his style wonderfully captured the spirit of the Late Baroque. He was extremely prolific and could handle the brush with a fascinating ease, thus furnishing Maltese churches with hundreds of paintings, large and small. His extraordinary creative spirit also ensured that his pictures breathed the compositional freshness of mature artists. Francesco Zahra produced various designs for church furniture, marble altars, silver artefacts, liturgical vessels and other objets d'art that still survive scattered around the island. Zahra's output can be divided into a number of phases and this book seeks to trace such evolution and development. It also seeks to re-evaluate some of the most important works of his oeuvre. Zahra's early style is his weakest and was largely dependent on the works of his first tutor Gio Nicola Buhagiar (1698-1752). The 1730s were largely dominated by the artistic affinities of these two painters and there were instances when it was difficult to tell them apart. Zahra reached his early maturity by 1740 when his art started to depart from the manner of his tutor. By the mid-1740s, Zahra was the most important native painter on the island, only to be challenged by the arrival of the Frenchman Antoine Favray. Zahra's interest in proper disegno and in the work of Mattia Preti and Favray made him modify his style and - by the mid-1750s - adopt a more solid approach. His figurative forms changed and the general atmosphere of his works became more sophisticated. Francesco Zahra marked Maltese mid-18th century art with his timbre and distinctly shaped the character of religious painting. His decorative appeal and theatrical manner complemented the context of the period and made him one of the most fashionable of the Baroque painters active in Malta.
Download or read book Caravaggio and Paintings of Realism in Malta written by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and published by Midsea Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In July 1608, Caravaggio was invested with the habit of Magistral Obedience by Alof de Wignacourt, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta. In honouring Caravaggio, the Grand Master thought that he would thus keep the artist firmly attached to the Order of St John, hoping that the Order would find glory through his art: 'we wish to gratify the desire of this excellent painter, so that our Island Malta, and our Order may at last glory in this adopted disciple and citizen' (extract from the document of Caravaggio's investiture). The artist, however, soon fell out of grace and was deprived of his knighthood in the very same year. Malta had thus, strictly speaking, 'lost' Caravaggio. Caravaggio's presence in Malta was, however, to remain strong, partly because of the pictures that he painted and partly because of the overwhelming influence that his art had on realist paintings that found their way on the island thereafter. Caravaggio, the man dishonoured by the Order, was thus honoured through his art. This exhibition, entitled Caravaggio and paintings of Realism in Malta, forms part of a wider programme of events called CARAVAGGIO400, aimed at celebrating the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio's stay in Malta.
Download or read book Essays on the Knights and Art and Architecture in Malta 1500 1798 written by Mario Buhagiar and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of twenty essays by the author previously published between 1964 and 2007.
Download or read book Mattia Preti written by Cynthia De Giorgio and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book studies the iconography of saints and heroes of the Knights of Malta as depicted by the artist Mattia Preti between 1658 and 1698."- [preface].
Download or read book William Scamp 1801 1872 written by Conrad Thake and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of architectural history during the British colonial period in Malta has been rather sparse and has not attracted the same attention as the architectural legacy of the Order of St John in Malta (1530-1798). This monograph focuses on the work of William Scamp, an architect in the employment of the British Admiralty. Although Scamp's architectural career in Malta was limited to a four-year period (1841-1844), his achievements were considerable. He pioneered the establishment of the British naval yard in Dockyard Creek by the construction of the first dry-dock on the island and an imposing Naval Bakery that serviced the entire British fleet in the Mediterranean. In addition, he salvaged the high-profile project of St Paul's Anglican cathedral, Valletta that had been mired in crisis under his predecessor Richard Lankesheer. Scamp was instrumental in introducing industrial steel structures to Malta. He not only replicated steel sheds typical of the factories and shipyards in Britain but also experimented with hybrid buildings systems of steel stanchions, beams, and local ashlar masonry. The Naval Bakery in Birgu (today the Maritime Museum) is testimony to Scamp's knowledge, pragmatism and ingenuity in adopting a variety of building systems. He was versatile and well-versed in various disciplines related to construction - an accomplished civil and structural engineer, a superb draftsman, a meticulous quantity surveyor, and a disciplined project manager. It would not be an exaggeration to state that Scamp was the architect who heralded Maltese architecture into the industrial era. Another outstanding quality was Scamp's ability to adapt local materials and simplify the construction to local labour resources. A pragmatist and a rationalist in his approach to building, he did not tolerate unjustified structural complexity or superfluous ornamentation. This is manifested both in his works and written documents relating to the projects. Scamp's achievements in Malta have to be placed within the context of an illustrious career with the Admiralty, which saw him actively involved in the naval yards at Portsmouth, Devonport, Chatham, Keyham, and Woolwich in Britain and in far-flung outposts of the British empire from Gibraltar to Bermuda.
Download or read book Mattia Preti written by Keith Sciberras and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book examines Preti's art and studies the context of his Maltese period, which climaxed in the triumphant manner which imbued his first decade there. The book researches his life and his work, analyses the complications of his knighthood and examines the mechanics of patronage. It catalogues the paintings which are in Malta and, based on archival research and stylistic study, it attempts a chronology for the paintings under review. The book builds up on the work of other Preti scholars and addresses issues which have already been previously studied, whilst presenting others which are new."--Preface, page ix.
Download or read book The Bellanti Family written by William Zammit and published by Midsea Books. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication is the first to delve in depth into the artistic and cultural achievements of different members of the Bellanti family. Michele Bellanti (1807-1883) was a major Maltese artist, active from the 1840s onwards and who has contributed most significantly to the post-Baroque Maltese artistic scene. While his paintings, sketches and lithographs have always been appreciated and greatly sought after for their artistic merits, no detailed study on the artist or on the significance of his work had as yet been undertaken. Michele's elder brother, Giuseppe (1787-1861), was also a cultured individual who was a keen collector of artistic works and of books. A significant part of Giuseppe's collection is now to be found in Malta's National Museum of Fine Arts. Between 1812 and 1838 Giuseppe was the librarian of the Biblioteca Pubblica. The National Library collection still comprises books previously owned by Giuseppe, notably a number of incunabula. Giuseppe was moreover the author of a manuscript work on Maltese orthography, which is the subject of a study featured in the present publication. As aptly described in Patricia Camilleri's contribution, Paul F. Bellanti (1852-1927) was a man of many talents. As an archaeologist, linguist and author, Paul Bellanti gave a significant contribution in all these fields during a time when the assertion of Maltese identity required individuals to do so. The studies contained in this publication not only constitute a detailed corpus describing the achievements of the Bellanti family, but should, moreover, serve to stimulate academic interest in other, as yet unstudied individuals and families, who gave a sterling contribution to various aspects of Maltese intellectual, cultural and artistic development during different periods.
Download or read book Carapecchia written by Denis De Lucca and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique book which gives insights into aspects of European Baroque culture in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries such as its interest in optics, theatre design and water engineering. The book is a manifestation of this engineers projects, whose architectural genius changed a fortified city in a modern baroque one.
Download or read book Francesco Noletti written by Gianluca Bocchi and published by Midsea Books. This book was released on 2021-12-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first monograph and proper study on Francesco Noletti (c.1611-54), called il Maltese (and popularly known as Francesco Fieravino). He is one of the most significant yet enigmatic artists in the study of still-life painting of the Roman seicento. His work encapsulates the spirit of the 'baroque still-life', primarily through a typology of 'carpet paintings' that he popularized in Rome during the 1640s and early 1650s. Francesco Noletti is credited to have significantly imprinted theatrically-placed heavy folded carpets as the primary focus of his impressive still-life compositions, with such folds animating and dominating the painting rather than being merely tactile covers of tables or ledges on which the objects were placed. The thick impasto and monumental folds of Noletti's carpets imbued his works with a forceful movement, tactile richness and theatricality that responded perfectly to the baroque manner of the 'main-stream' artists.
Download or read book Mattia Preti written by Keith Sciberras and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mattia Preti written by and published by Gangemi Editore. This book was released on 2005 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The restoration of Mattia Preti's work of art 'St George and the Dragon', kept in the Co-Cathedral of Valletta, represents a significant success within the cooperation between the Italian and Maltese Governments in the area of Cultural Heritage. It is also a precious evidence of the skilfulness of the technicians of the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro who saved it from degradation.Thanks to its worldwide, constant activity in the field of conservation interventions and restoration of works of art, Italy has reached such excellent levels that UNESCO chose it as the country to which to refer in order to coordinate actions of tutelage of the cultural heritage endangered by wars, terrorist events and natural disasters.
Download or read book The French in Malta 1798 1800 written by Carmel Testa and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 893 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most documented account of the French occupation of Malta between 10 June 1798 when Napoleon landed on the island with his Army of the East, and 5 September 1800 when the French commander General Vaubois capitulated to British officials who had come to the assistance of Maltese insurgents.
Download or read book Caravaggio A Life Sacred and Profane written by Andrew Graham-Dixon and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-11-10 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and a Washington Post Notable Book of the Year "This book resees its subject with rare clarity and power as a painter for the 21st century." —Hilary Spurling, New York Times Book Review Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) lived the darkest and most dangerous life of any of the great painters. This commanding biography explores Caravaggio’s staggering artistic achievements, his volatile personal trajectory, and his tragic and mysterious death at age thirty-eight. Featuring more than eighty full-color reproductions of the artist’s best paintings, Caravaggio is a masterful profile of the mercurial painter.
