21
THE QORMI PALA D' ALT ARE AND
ARTISTIC PATRONAGE IN MALTA
DURING THE 15TH AND EARLY
16TH CENTURIES
MARIO BUHAG1AR
The period between approximately the early 15th century and the first three
decades of the 16th is normally regarded as a time of grave economic depression and
social insecurity.1" Such an impression seems to be borne out by the surviving
documents which complain repeatedly of the rapacity of corrupt crown officials, the
exploitation of feudal lords and powerful local notables, over taxation, pillaging
raids by the terrible Hafsids of Tunisia and piratical incursions by Genoese and
Calabrian ships as well as of natural calamities such as plague and drought. 1:1
Perhaps the most eloquent of the capiioii or petitions that the Maltese sent to the
King or his Viceroy in Sicily was that of 1466 in which they gave a prohahly,
purposely exaggerated picture of dejection: quista insola, they bemoaned, e quasi unu
parvulu scoglectu situatu in mezu mari, remotu undique da omni succursu el
rifrigeriu.in
Nonetheless, inspite of the apparently serious distress, the period also witnessed
an unexpected boom in church buildings and a remarkable flowering of artistic
patronage. M The Cathedral at Mdina was enlarged into a cruciform shape in 1419
and in. 1520 it was given a new painted and gill timbered ceiling when a clerestory
was buih on the nave arcades; 1 ' 1 the mendicant friars who established themselves at
1. The best accounts of this period are the several writings of Anthony T. Luttrell particularly
"Approaches to Medieval Malta" in Medieval Malta - Studies on Malta Hejore the Knights, London
1975, pp. 48 - 70 and the various contributions of Godfrey Wettinger to Melila Hiswrica, Proceedings
of History Week and other specialised publications which are of seminal importance and contain the
essential documentary references and bibliography. H. Bresc's "The 'Secrezia' and the Royal
Patrimony in Malta 1240- 1450" [Medieval Malta pp. 126 - 162) is also of vital interest and provides
the necessary economic background.
2. References and details in Luttrell, Approaches, Bresc. op.cit. and Roberto Valcntini who published
several or the relevant documents in Archivio Storico di Malta (V-XIII Rome 1934- 1942). The
Monroy incident of 1426 - 27 which is often mentioned as the turning point in the islanders' struggles
and sacrifices to achieve a measure of political liberty is re-dimensionised in Godfrey Wettinger "The
Pawning of Malta to Monroy". Melila Historica, VII no. 3(1978), pp. 2 6 3 - 283.
3. Ten in Valentini, \n Archivio Storico di Malta, X, p. 70.
4. See especially Godfrey Wettinger "Artistic Patronage in Malta: 1418 - 1538" in Hal Millieri: A
Maltese Casale, Its Churches and Paintings (cd. A. Luttrell), Malta 1976, pp. 108-115.
5. On Mdina Cathedral see Mario Buhagiar, "Medieval Churches in Malla", Medieval Malta, op.cit.,
pp. 1 7 8 - 179.
22
22
QORMI PALA D'ALTARE
QORMI PALA D'ALTARE
Rabai built and enlarged churches and convents;"" and several of the twelve cappelle,
or parish churches, mentioned in the 1436 report' 1 ' were structurally modified as
happened, for example, at Zurrieq, Qormi, Siggicwj, Zejtun and Bir Miftuh."" More
remarkable still was the great quantity of small churches, many of them apparently
votive buildings, that were built or rebuilt both in the casali and in remote country
districts; by 1530 these seem to have numbered about four hundred!" 1
The few snippets of information so far unearthed about artistic patronage are
even more revealing in that they often point to an unexpected sophistication in the
choice of artists and workshops that necessitated contacts not only with nearby
Sicily but also with the Italian mainland and, possibly, even further afield. Some of
the more relevant documents have been published and discussed by Dr. Godfrey
Wettinger" 0 ' but there is still much scope for further research both by the late
medieval specialist historian and by the art critic.
Mdina Cathedral had, as might be expected, the most impressive works. They
included the great pala or retableof St. Paul which seems to be the work of a painter
in the immediate entourage of Luis Borassa (1360-1426) who was the leading
Catalan painter of the International Gothic period;"" an oblong panel with scenes of
the Dormhion of the Virgin and St. Michael which is strongly Valencian in style;"11
intarsia choir stalls commissioned in 1482 from Paristo and Pieranionio Calacura,
carpinteri of Catania;" 51 a white marble baptismal font from the Palermo workshop
of Domenico Gagini executed sometime between 1495 and 1501;"" a tripiych of the
Madonna del Soccorso, attributed to Salvo d'Antonio and possibly painted in the
last decade of the 15th century;" 5 'and ceiling paintings by Alessandro Patavinus. or
Padovano of Siracusa who may also be the author of the large panel of the
Madonna of Loreto in the Ta' Loreto Church at Gudja and, possibly, also of some
of the murals in the cave-church of St. Agatha."*' A bell with a relief figure of St.
Paul and three shields each showing a lion rampant was made in Venice, for the
Cathedral in 1370"" and, in 1442, the dean of the Cathedral, Don Bernardus Janer,
bound his heirs with precise instructions to order from Venice an embroidered
banderiam which probably means, in this context, a hanging screen or tapestry or,
perhaps, a banner, which was to depict St. Paul with Don Bernardo at his feet.1"1
Other important works were commissioned by the Monasiic Orders and by local
notables such as Joannes de Nava who. in his will of 1st November 1487 made
provisions for a sepoltura di marmora or marble sepulchral monument that was to
be embellished with a gilt trophy of arms and a silk banner emblazoned with his arms.
Unfortunately there are no particulars about the workshop entrusted with its
execution and it is not even known whether the work was actually carried out."" De
Nava's heirs were certainly not oyer zealous about fulfilling his other stipulated wish
to provide a marble effigy of the Virgin of Loreto for a chapel he had founded in the
Dominican Church of the Virgin of the Grotto." 01
Not far from the Dominican Church, the Augustinians decorated their own
church at Rabat with a very fine polyptych which may have come from the artistic
milieu of Sicily but is technically and iconographically related with the more
Northern International Gothic Style.' 1 "
6. On the Religious Orders in Malta see Anthony Luttrell, "The Benedictines and Malta: 1363 - 1371",
Papers of the British School at Rome, vol. L (1982). pp. 146 - 165: "The Augustinians at Malta:
1413", Analecia Augustiniuna XXXVtll [1975), Approaches, op.cit.. pp. 6 3 - 6 6 , and Bonaveniura
Fiorini, "II Convenlo di S. Francesco in Rabat (Malta) dei Frati Minori Conventual)", Melila
Histonca vol. 3 no. 3. 1962: Serafin Abeta. L-Ewwel Karmelitani /'Malta u l-Kmsja u Kunveni
Taghhom: ll-Lumjaia l-Qadima. Malta 1976; Mikiel Fsadni, ll-Migja u l-Hidma la' l-Ewuel
Dumnikamf'Malta,
Malta 1965 and idem, lil-Dumnikani fir Rabat u fil-Birgu sa 1-1620, Malta 1974.
7. On the Cappelle and the 1436 Report see A. Luttrell, "l.e origini delta parrocchia a Malta" in Italia
Sacra: Studi e document! di sloria eeclesiaslita. vol. 36: Pievi e Parrocchie in Italia net Basso
Medioevo (Sec. XIII-XV: Am del VI Convegno di \toriadella chiesa in Italia iPirenze, 21 - 25 Sept.
1981). Rome 1984, pp. II87 - 1198.
8. On the parish churches in general see Mario Buhagtar. op.cil., pp. 172- 175. On particular parish
churches see - for Zurrieq: Mario Buhagiar. Si. Catherine of Alexandria: Her Churches, Paintings
and Statues in the Maltese Islands, Malta 1979. pp. 113-118 and Anthony Mangion, "The Parish
Church of St. Catherine - Zurrieq", Heritage vol. I, pp. 221 - 224; For Zejtun: Mario Buhagiar, Sr.
Catherine of Alexandria, pp. 75 - 9 0 and idem "The Old Parish Church of Zejtun", Heritage vol. 3,
pp. 761 -768; on Siggiewi, Carmel Vella, St. Nicholas of Bari Old Parish Church Siggiewi. unpublished
thesis. Faculty of Architecture, University of Malta; on Qormi: [he contributions of Godfrey
Wettinger and Mario Buhagiar in Joseph V. Grima (Ed.) Il-Knisja Parrokkjali la' San Gorg Hat
Qormi - Erba'Sekli ta'Slorja, Malta 1984, pp. 3 - 6 , 8 6 - 8 7 ; on Gozo Castello: Godfrey Wettinger,
ll-Grajjalal-Knisja Matrici ta'Ghawdex (Edizzjoni gdida b'xi Zidiel). Malta 1975.
9. Mario Buhagiar, Medieval Churches, op.cil.
10. Godfrey Wettinger, "Artistic Patronage' op.cil., and idem "Burials in Maltese Churches:
1419- 1530s" in Hyphen: A Journal of Melitensia and the Humanities. Vol. IV No. 2 (1984), pp.
3 9 - 4 5 . Sec also the very valuable contribution of Genevieve Bautier - Bresc, "The Paintings at Hal
Millieri", in HalMillieri, op.cil., pp. 97 - 104.
11. Genevieve Bautier-Bresc. op.cil., pp. 102- 103; Mario Buhagiar. St. Catherine, op.cil., pp.
189-190 and "Late Medieval Marian An in Matia" in Mario Buhagiar (ed.l Marian Art During the
17th and 18th Centuries, Malta 1983, pp. 3. 9 n.23.
12. Mario Buhagiar, "Laic Medieval Marian Art", op.cit., p,3.
13. Mikid Fsadni, ll-Migja u l-Hidma la' l-Ewwel Dummkam, op.cit.. p. 68 and Mario Buhagiar. "Late
Medieval Marian Art", p. 3.
14. Hanno W. Kruft. Domenico Gagini und Werkstatt, Munich 1972. pp. 55.244. ph. 221 - 2 3 3 . The
Tom is said to have been commissioned by Bishop Valguarnera.
15. Anthony T. Luilrell. "The Madonna del Soccorso". Heritage vol. Ill, pp. 9 2 7 - 9 3 2 .
16. Mario Buhagiar, "Medieval Churches", pp. 178- 179, 179 n.93: "Late Medieval Marian Art"
pp. 7 - 8 .
17. The bell is still extant. It is mentioned in a text of 1645 reproduced by Alfredo Mifsud in LaDiocesi ii
(1917- 1918), pp. 76 - 77.
18. Godfrey Wettinger. "Artistic Patronage", pp. 109, I17n.31.
19. Ibid. pp. 110, 117n.33 and idem "Burials in Maltese Churches", op.cit., p. 40.
20. Godfrey Wettinger, "Artistic Patronage", p. 110 and Mikiel Fsadni. ll-Migja u l-Hidma la' l-Ewwel
Dumnikani, op.cit., pp. 55 - 59.
21. Genevieve Bautier-Bresc. op.cit., p. 103 and Mario Buhagiar, St. Catherine, pp. 190- 191; "Late
Medieval Marian Art", p. 4.
24
QORMI PALA D'ALTARE
Close ties were meanwhile maintained with the Gagini Messina workshop and
with the Messina School of painters that revolved round the great Antonello da
Messina. In 1504 the Franciscan Minor Observants signed a contract with Antonello
Gagini for a marble statue of the Madonna and Child which survives in their Rabat
Church and carries on the pedestal the partially legible signature of Antonello and
the date 1504.'331 This statue which is mentioned in a will of 1535 published by
Wettinger 12 " served as a model for another Madonna that Antonello Gagini
produced shortly afterwards for the church of Santa Maria della Grazia at Catanzaro.1341 Another work stylistically related to the Messina workshop of the Gagini is
the white marble statue of St. Agatha in the Church of the saint at Rabat.'2-1 A much
later work of the same workshop is the beautiful tomb of Grand Master Philippe
Villiers de L'Isle Adam produced round 1534-35 and now erected in the Grand
Master's Crypt of the Conventual Church of St. John's at Valletta.
The Maltese activity of the Sicilian followers of Antonello da Messina is quite well
known. Antonello had a close family link with Malta because one of his two sisters
married, about 1461, a probable native of Malta, Giovanni De Saliba or Resaliba
who was active as an inlaglialore at Messina between 1469 and 1510.1"11 Giovanni's
two painter sons Pietro and Antonio de Saliba both worked for Maltese patrons as
did their cousin Salvo (known in art as Salvo d'Antonio) who was the son of Antonello's brother Giordano. 1271 Their Maltese works have been discussed elsewhere
both by myself and other historians and art critics'381 and I wish, here, to comment
only on a largepala cl'allare that Antonio de Saliba produced in 1517 for the Church
of Minor Observants at Rabat. This polyptych had two main panels (which still
survive) representing, respectively the Lamentation for Christ and the Madonna and
Child Enthroned. The other panels depicted St. Paul, St. Anthony of Padua, St.
Francis of Assist, Bishop St. Ludwig, St. Agatha, St. Catherine of Alexandria and
22. The signature appears on the plinth which has a main relief of St. Francis receiving the stigmata and
half figures of St, Paul and St. Francis of Assisi. The plinth now forms part of the collection of the
National Musuem of Fine Arts. The statue was commissioned from the artist on 23rd February 1504
(Gioacchino di Marzo, / Gagini e la scullura in Sicilia net secoli XV e XVI, Palermo I8B0 - 1883,
vol. 2. p. 60 doc.XLVI.) Sec also Vincenzo Bonello in V, Bonello/J.A. Cauchi, Pauline Centenary
Exhibition - Sacred An in Malta, Malta I960, p. 104 and Hanno Walter Kraft. "Figure Giovanili di
Madonne di Antonello Gagini" in Antichitd Viva Fascicolo No. 2, Firenze lEdilrice Edam) 1975.
23. Godfrey Wettinger, "Artistic Patronage", pp. 110, MBn.35.
24. Hanno Walter Kruft, "Figure Giovanili". The Catanzaro Madonna was commissioned on 7th
October 1504.
25. On the history of this statue see Victor Camillcri, Sant'Agata: Katakombi, Kripta, Knisja, Malta
1978. pp. 6 9 - 7 2 and idem, St. Agatha: An Archaeological Study of the Ancient Monuments and
St. Agatha's Building Complex: Crypt, Catacombs. Church and Museum. Malta 1984 pp. Ill - 115.
26. On Antonello da Messina's Maltese relations and connections see Godfrey Wettinger "Artistic
Patronage", p. I l l ; Anthony Luttrell. "Approaches", pp. 6 5 - 6 6 and "The Madonna del
Soccorso"; Mario Buhagiar. St. Catherine, pp. 98 - 99 and "Late Medieval Marian Art", pp. 6 - 7;
Genevieve Bautier-Brcsc, op.cit., p. 103.
27. For a geneaological table of the Antonello family sec "L'opera completa di Antonello da Messina"
ed. by Leonardo Sciascia for the Classici dell'Arte. Rizzoii Editore, Milan 1967. p. 84.
28. See note 26, supra.
QORMI PALA D'ALTARE
25
St. Lucy; while on the predella (which was inscribed and dated) the Salvator Mundi
was surrounded by the Apostles. 13 "
Another important pala d'allare of unknown authorship and provenance
somehow found its way to the parish church of the village of Qormi which had been
either rebuilt or structurally altered in 1456 during the time of parish priest Don
Giglio Lombardo.'- 01 The pala which has long been dismembered was made up of at
leasL four panels: a large central Lamentation for Christ, a Si. George, a Si. Gregory
and a Crucifixus. Stylistic considerations suggest that it also had a predella but of
this there is no documentary evidence and (if it ever existed) it must have been lost a
long time ago.
The history of this pala is a complicated one. It may, possibly, be identified with
the icona mentioned in the Dusina Report of 1575 when it was exhibited for veneration above the tabernacle on the chancel altar." 11 A few years later in 1588 U was
referred to as an icona cum Imagine Jesu Christi el Virginis Mariae.ai> Subsequent
visitation reports describe it in greater detail and it seems to have remained the main
29. The pala wax described in 1730 by friar-chronicler, Giovanni Antonio Mercieca who gives the
following account, quoted by Fr. George Aquilina, "Marian Devotions and the Franciscans Minor"
in Vincent Borg [ed), Marian Devotions in the Islands of St. Paul (I6O0-I8O0I, Malta 1983, p. 340 n.
58; Icon veneratur anliquissima, ct gothico more in trcs ordines divisa in quodam primo el superiori
rcprcsentat in medio corporis Christi Domini exiincti depositloncm dc Cruce in sinum afflictijs V.
Matrix, a latere dextcro D. Paulum el post ilium Divum Anionium Paiavinum. a sinistro S.P.N.
Franciscum, « post hunc S. Episcopum t.udovicum. In medio secundi ordinis B.mam Virginem in
Cathedra sedentem cum divina Prole super ejus dexteram genu stame. ct Angelas utrinque sacras
adorantes Personas: a dexteris Dciparcntis S. ct Virgines slant Agatha et Catherina, a sinistris vero
Lucia et Barbara: tcrtius el infimus ordo unius circitcr palmi altitudinis adesi. in quo Salvator Mundi
in medio existens, et cquali numero Apostolorum suorum ad dexteram, sinistramvc associatus
ostendiiur . . . opus Messanae elaboratum anno 1517". Fr. George Aquitina (p. 340) wrongly
attributes the pala to Antonello. Fr. George Aquilina has also traced and published lll-Gimgha IKbira lal-Bell, Malta 1986, p. 83n) an apparently contemporary copy of the deed registering a pan
payment to Antonello de Saliba. in the Malta provincial archives, Ms. 1, p. 3: Messane: XX
Novembris. 7 Indict. 1517. Nobilis Antonellus Resaliba Civis messanensis sponte cottfessus est
recepisse et habuisse ab honorabili Johanne Zamit Maltense, uti procuratore Ecclesiae seu conventus
Sana.n Mariae de Jehsu ciusdem Civilatis Melivetae unciam unam el (arenos sedecim: sunt ad
compliment urn unciaruiti quiuauaginLa ad quos dictus Convenlus <*idfni iitfhili Anionpltn leaebaim.
pro factura et constructione cuisdam Conae pro dicto Convenlu. Itaque ut dicat apparere dc praemissis
in act is publicis propria sponte nobilis Antonellus a dicto convenlu. me nolariosiipulante, pro quo tenens
sc contentum el satisfactum de supra dicto debtto. Cum . . . voluit et vult per omnes contractus et
scripturae intereundi nolario in predictum Conventum facti e factae sunt cassi ct nulli ac nullae.
solummodo de praesemi contractu in suo roborc pro existenti. Ipse Johannes procuratorio nomine
quo supra, similiter confessus est ab eodem nobiii Antonello recepisse el habuisse dictam conam jam
sum anni duo. Et propterea sc ad invicem contractaverunt ct quod omnia etc. sub poena etc.
obligando, habendo etc. et jure fiat in forma communi.
Praescntibus nobiii Sigismundo Capri, Magro Nicolao, Antonio Mithella, Bernardo Dabello. Ex
aciis meis Francisci Anlonii Demarino regii public! Messanensis, manu propria.
30. On Dun Giglio Lombardo and the rebuilding of Qormi parish church see Mario Buhagiar. "Xoghlijiet ta' Arti w Anigjanat fil-Knisja la' San Gorg". op.cit., pp. 8 6 - 8 7 .
31. National Museum of Archaeology, Valletta, Visitatio Dusina 1575, f. 100.
32. Archiepiscopal Archives, Floriana, Visitatio Gargallo 1588 - 1602, f. 40. The pala is also mentioned
in several other visitation reports, at the Archiepiscopal Archives, among them: Visitatio Gargallo
1601, f. 189; Visitatio Balaguer 1636, f. 54v and 1653. f 178: Visitatio Astiria 1671 - 7 4 , f. 246v;
Visitatio Molina 1678 - 80. f. 356; Visitatio Rull 1758- 59 (II). t. 549v : Visitatio Pellerano 1771 74/77, f. 403v.
28
QORMI PALA D'ALTARE
aliarpiece of the church until 1632 when it was replaced by the large canvas of Sr.
George Fighting the Dragon, the work of the Italian painter Gaspare Formica." 5 '
Thepala was then (apparently) partially dismembered and hung in the vestry where
it remained until aboul 1651 when the panel of the Lamentation for Christ and those
of Sr. Gregory and St. George were reassembled to form a triptych which became
the altarpiece of an altar that had recently been set up in the north transept, in
honour of the Virgin of Sorrows."" In 1850 the reredos of this altar was refashioned
and the old pala was substituted by a new canvas of the Pietd commissioned from
the painter Antonio Falzon (1805 -65).'"' This move must, however, have provoked
considerable public displeasure because after only a few years, the new painting was
removed and, on the instructions of Bishop Gactano Pace Forno, the central
Lamentation for Christ of the late medieval pala (now shorn of the side panels) was
reinstated as the altarpiece of the Pieta altar where it is still an object of considerable
veneration. <Ml
Stylistically the Qormi Pala is a rather bewildering mixture of Italo-Byzaniinesque
and late Gothic elements which was, possibly, commissioned from a North-Italian
workshop active in the second half of the 15th century. It is a work of considerable
sophistication and iconographtcal interest and it is, to say the least, odd how it
found its way into the church of a remote village such as Qormi must have been in
the 15th and early I6th centuries. Works of comparable artistic merit were only
produced for the more affluent town churches and it is probable that the Qormi
Pala was commissioned, in the first place, by one of the rich convent churches of
Rabat and that it only found its way to Qormi at a subsequent date.
On the central panel, the Virgin, accompanied by Mary of Magdala and John the
Evangelist, receives into her lap the dead body of Christ, as she sits at the foot of the
cross, while fretted against the background are the figures of Joseph of Arimathea,
Nicodemus and Veronica who hold passion symbols. The iconography of the sorrowful Virgin who presses her cheek against the cheek of her dead Son seems to have
been copied straight from a Byzantine repertory and it finds echoes in several
important Byzantine works executed between the 12th and 16th centuries such as the
well known mural of Lamentation for Christ in the church of St. Panteleimon at
Nerez in Macedonia. 1 " 1 The treatment of the background (which looks like a
tapestry hanging) and of the secondary figures is, on the other hand, in a purely
International Gothic idiom and it is painted with a characteristic passion for extreme
refinement, courtly elegance and love for exquisite patterns, intense colours and use
of gold leaf. It is indeed a pity that such a beautiful work has suffered so extensively
from inept restoration.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37
Details in Mario Buhagiar. "Xoghlijict ta' Art!*', pp. 61 - 66.
Vincent Borg in Marian Devotions, op.cit.. pp. 105. 113-114, and in It-Knisja Parrokkjali la'San
Gorg, op.cil., p. 17.
Details in Buhagiar. "Xogtilijiet ta' Arti". pp. 63 - 64.
Sec Appendix.
This famous work is illustrated in David Talbot Rice, Byzantine Art (Penguin Booksl 1968, pp. 256,
266. For other parallels SOT ibid. pp. 273, 276, 310,499.
QORMI PALA D'ALTARE
29
The panels of St. Gregory and St. George, now in (he collection of the Qormi
Church Museum, are in a completely International Gothic idiom. On the St. George
panel the saint on a white steed fights the dragon while the beautiful princess prays
on her knees for the valiant knight who has come to her rescue. Rather than a
religious picture this is an enchanted Arthurian adventure in which valour and
goodness triumph over the evil allegorised in the quaintly picturesque dragon; and
the fairy tale atmosphere is further enhanced by the distant castle perched on an
impossibly steep hill. There is neither feeling for depth nor interest in a natural
rendering of space but one cannot help remarking on the adequate draughtsmanship
and the well rendered armour of St. George.
The other panel is dominated by the monumenially rendered figure of Pope
St. Gregory which fills almost all the picture space with the exception of the right
hand corner where a charmingly aristocratic female saint (perhaps St. Venera)
intrudes gracefully into the scene to join St. Gregory in devout prayer. The pontifical
vestments of the Pope are minutely detailed and a credit to the keen sense of
observation of the unkown artist.
The Crucifixus which now hangs above the choir altar beneath Matiia Preti's
painting of the Martydrom of St. George is Byzantinesque in inspiration but Italianate in execution and the sinuous figure of Christ points to a Gothic influence. Also
of Gothic inspiration is the blood stained skull on the pedestal supporting the cross
which bears the four evangelical symbols. Similar crucifixes were common in the late
Middle Ages and in the Early Renaissance Period and examples can be seen in the
collections of the principal European Museums as well as in old established churches
in Italy and elsewhere.
The Crucifix was probably the crowning pane! of the Qormi Pala which deserves
much better recognition as one of the masterpieces of late medieval art surviving in
Malta.
Appendix
In 1919- 1920 the panel of 77?e Deposition was restored by the painter Lazzaro
Pisani (1850- 1932). The work was criticised by Vincenzo Bonello(1891 - 1969) in a
long article in the newspaper Malta (19th May 1920) in which he severely rebukes the
Qormi church authorities for the irreparable damage they were perpetuating in the
parish church of St. George and in the church of Santa Marija tal-Hlas through
misguided restoration works."" Bonello's ire was provoked by the projected
destruction of the richly carved altar rcredoses in the parish church 1 "" but he also
took the opportunity lo comment on some of (he historical relics and works of an
in the two churches among them The Deposition and the panels of St. George and
38. Miss Maria Pisani kindly drew my attention to this article.
39. This unfortunate work, which rnbhed Malta of some of its finest 17th century stone-carvings was
actually carried out between 201 It June 1921 and 2nd April 192) under the direction of master mason
Gorg Pulis, known as Ta" Kalang, a native of Qormi. The story is told in Carmclo Psaila. Il-Knisju
Areimatrici ta' Hat Qormi M-Grajja Taghha. Malta 1937, p. 71. For details of the reredoses see
Vincent Borg "11-Knisja Parrokkjali Ta' San Gorg f'Hal Qormi Tinbcna u Tilhejja ghall-Jum il
Konsagrazzjoni Taghha". in It-Knisja Parrokkjali ta' San Gorg Hal Qormi. op.cit., pp. 1 6 - 2 1 . The
choir, reputedly a masterpiece of Baroque extravaganza, had already been shorn of all decoration
and drastically remodelled in 1899(Carmclo Psaila. op.cit.. pp. 44 - 45).
30
QORMI PALA D'ALTARE
Pope St. Gregory. Presumably unaware of the pastoral Visitation reports, and
basing his conclusion on purely stylistic considerations, he apparently did not
suspect that the three panels formed part of the same pala and he wrongly assigned
The Deposition to the 14th century. He also mistook the St. Gregory for a St. Elmo.'*"
What annoyed him most in the restoration of The Deposition was the, reputedly,
unrestrained use of glittering gold leaf in the haloes of the sacred figures that people
the scene:
Colpisce, pure nella chiesa, il luccichio del diademi ridorati di fresco, di buort
oro, su di un'annerita tavola trecentesca, recentemente rinnovala. In una
sacrestia interna giacciono due tavole del Sec. XV di grande interesse storico ed
artistico; uno rappresenta in armatura il santo guerriero profettore del
vitlaggio; Taltra ricorda il lontano quattrocento quando la gitirisdizione di
questo casale arrivava all'estrema punta delta lingua di terra ove oggi sorge la
Valletta, perchb rappresenta il santo protettore del naviganti al quale era
dedicate una chiesuo/a in punto al promontorio oggi occupato dal castello
omonimo.1411 Sono anneriti e hanno i diademi di oro pallido. fra non motto perb
splenderanno rinnovati e ridorati perbene.ia>
Lazzaro Pisani took exception to this criticism and by way of justification for his
intervention he published the following highly interesting restoration report in the
Malta (27th May 1920)'"':
Questa antichissima tavola a tempera, naturatmente in principio formava un
bellissimo trittico, da certi buchi cheesistono at suoilati'"'; ora Mons. Arc. Era
Gaelano Pace Forno in una sua visita pastorale trovando su/Taltare dell'
Addolorata collocato in sua vece un nuovo quadro ad olio, rappresentante il
medesimo soggetto, com/nandd la sua rimozione e la ripristinazione di delta
venerabile tavola; questa giaceva da tempo nella sagrestia delta arciconfraternita,
tuogo umido a tramontana, e poi dandole per crassa ignoranza una mano di
olio di noce per faria ricomparire briilante venne riposta sul suo allare; posto
eccessivamente secco, per causa dei cert dell'altar maggiore al quale & atliguo ed
ai raggi del sole, sulla quale in certi momenti inesorabilmente vi battono,
nonostante la difesa di un cristallo postole davanti. Ora le dette circostanze
unite al tempo avevano determinato quasi la sua totale rovina: infatti il petto
del Cristo Morto in parte era distrutto in alira la pittura totalmente slaccata ed
accorticciata a guisa difoglie di spina cadenti; la testa delta Vergine A ddolorata
40. The identification of this mint with St. Gregory is based on iconographies I considerations but the
visitation reports give conflicting names: Visitatio Gargallo 1601. S. 189 and Visitatio Astiria
1671 - 74, f. 246v: St. Gregory; Visitatio Gargallo 1588. f. 40: St. Elmo; Visitatio Molina 1679: St.
Nicholas.
41. Boneilo means Fort St. Elmo. The belief that the fort stands on the site of a church dedicated to St.
Elmo does not seem to be supported by documentary evidence.
42. Bonello's fears were unfounded because the two panels were happily nut tampered with.
43. Miss Maria Pisani kindly drew tnv attention to this report.
44. Pisani was apparently unaware of the panel of the cructfixus which at the time was still in the store
room of the Confraternity of the Virgin of Consolation (Mario Buhagiar, Xoghlijitt tal-Arti, op.cil..
p. 65), he, therefore, assumed the pala to have been a triptych and not a polyptych as it almost
certainly was.
QORMI PALA D'ALTARE
31
con raureola staccato In forma del cavo di una mano, il resto per piu di due
terzi, oltre diversi guasti, rigonfio da fare parere la pittura maggiore delta
tavola su cut era dipinta; condizione credo da fare impensierire qualunque abile
restauratore. Chiamato per restaurare tanta rovina non volevo accettare
i'incarico; poi immaginando "senza garantire la riuscita", distaccare la pittura
dalla tavola su tela, cedetti alle istanze del M.R. Cappellano e del Sac.
Procurators Ma questa operazione incominciata tanlo bene la dovetli fermare
per causa di ribaditure di grossi chiodi e di sprofondi tarlate.
Tenrai un 'ultima e mi & riuscita a meravigiia ciob di fare infinite incisioni
nelle parti rigonfie per diminuire il volume ritenendo ta pittura antica su
pezzettini di carta velina e poi aderirla alia tovala con pasta elastica nuovamente;
consolidai bene le tavsrlaai di dietro colmando le tarlature riducendole di un sol
pezzo dando in ultimo alle stesse uno intonaco per impedire I'azione delta
diversita di lemperaiura. Di piu trovai nella pulitura che il Cristo e la prospettiva
erano contorniate da una mano vandalica con grossi contorni neri e diverse
imbratture di rosso da sembrare sangue, i quali in parte mi b riuscito levare ed
inallra di ritoccare.
In quanlo all'oro in mistura delle aureole che era motto danneggiato feci
chiamare il Mm. Signor Coleiro per sent ire il suo parere e conbinammo insieme
di rinnovare il solo oro delle aureole - lasciando tutte le altre misture deifondi
e delle figure - come erano. E questo to dico al publico per ta pura verita.
AUTllmo. V. Boneilo raccomando la pazienza di riconsiderare la descritta
tavola o lavoro. lui che ha Tocchio vigile e penetrante, e correggere la parola
rinnovata invece di ristaurale, che gli $ caduta dalla sua incantevole penna net
suo pregiatissimo articolo comparso net Malta iV 19 corrente: la quale semplice
parola a mio senlire $ ingiuriosa alia venerazzione artistica di delta tavola ed a
me di onesto restauratore.