The Maltese artistic heritage of the Roman period (original) (raw)
Studies on Roman Art in Malta As for many other fields of the Maltese cultural heritage the study of Roman art in Malta starts with the monumental work of the 17th century of which the Maltese nation is justifiably proud: the Descrittione by Giovanni Francesco Abela.ttl More than a century before the German scholar J .J. Winckelmann laid the foundations for a history of ancient art,(2) Abela was already publishing in that work a series of ancient artistic objects some of which he had acquired for his own personal collection while others were scattered in different parts of the islands. (3) Abela hardly ever attempted a stylistic appreciation of the works of art he published whereas he was sometimes far too rash in his historical judgements, although his identifications were generally correct.< 4 > The art objects described and illustrated by Abela were also included in the enlarged edition of his work by Giovanni Antonio Ciantar in the 18th century ,< 5 > and in other descriptions of the Maltese islands written by both Maltese and foreign writers in that same century and in the following one.< 6 l Certainly the most precious treasure of Roman art in the possession of the Maltese nation was unearthed all together in 1881 during the excavation of the well-known Roman town villa (or house) at Rabat, just outside the fortifications of Mdina. It consisted of a rich collection of polychrome mosaics, both geometric and figurative, and a group of sculptures of a very fine quality. However, the gentleman who conducted the excavation and published their report, A .A. Caruana, made only a brief mention of the mosaics and sculptures and illustrated them with drawings and a photograph without attempting an identification.(7) Albert Mayr, just after the
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unpublished M.A. dissertation, Department of History of Art, University of Malta, 2017
This research aims to analyse the late Baroque sculptured altar reredoses of Pietro Paolo Zahra (1685-1747), one of the most important eighteenth century regional Baroque sculptors in Malta, and discuss their regional characteristics within the international context of Roman Baroque sculpture and its spread. The imprint of the Roman Baroque on Malta is the result of a set of conditions that enhanced the dissemination of the High Baroque from the Eternal City to regional areas, among them Malta, where it was amalgamated with tradition to create a Maltese Late Baroque style. This study has three main goals: the first is to identify and analyse the channels through which Pietro Paolo Zahra came into contact with the Roman Baroque style; the second is to analyse stylistic parallelism in the sculpture of other regional centres, and the third is to attribute new works to Pietro Paolo Zahra on the basis of style and to examine the workings of his workshop. The aims of the study are primarily reached through onsite research in Malta and a study visit to Sicily. Onsite research is complemented with archival research in several collections but chiefly in the Senglea Parish Archives, the Archives of the Archbishop’s Curia at Floriana, and the Notarial Archives in Valletta. Literature on Roman Baroque sculpture in Malta has focused almost exclusively on the patronage of the Order of St John while Maltese Late Baroque sculpture has been dispersedly discussed in previous dissertations. Archival research on Pietro Paolo Zahra has been conducted but the channels through which he was imprinted with the Roman Baroque idiom have never been evaluated. Furthermore, the altar reredoses of Pietro Paolo Zahra have never been analysed in the light of their regional characteristics and in direct comparison with Rome, the source, and other regional centres. Through the analysis of Pietro Paolo Zahra’s altar reredoses, this research synthesises Maltese art historical literature and fills a lacuna by improving understanding of the regional characteristics sculpture acquired from its ultimate sources. The most important contribution of this research is the shedding of light on the artistic links between Malta and Rome that enabled the dominant imprint of the Roman Baroque style on Maltese Late Baroque sculpture.
THE RE-BIRTH OF MALTESE ART IN THE 17 TH CENTURY - Stefano Erardi and Alessio Erardi
Times of Malta , 1980
Art in Malta had a slow evolution throughout the Middle Ages, quickening in the late 15th into the 16th Century. A rare renaissance of native Maltese art was eventually attained in the 17th Century thanks to a social fusion of immigrant craftsmen and local artisans. This essay explores the growth of this flourish through the achievements of an immigrant family of talent with aspiring Maltese artisans.
The iconography of the Maltese rock-tombs Punico-Hellenistic, Paleochristian and Byzantine
Malta Historical Society, 1998
The geophysical environment of the central Mediterranean islands of Malta with its rich supply of soft limestone has, since prehistoric times, provided fertile ground for the diffusion and consolidation of a culture of rock architecture. This found one of its most eloquent expressions in Phoenician and Punico-Hellenistic necropoles with shaft and chamber tombs and in the late Roman, Paleochristian and Byzantine tombs and miniature catacombs which followed them. These rock-cut burial places are primarily remarkable for their wealth of architectural detail. Their limited repertory of carved and painted decoration is, none the less, of notable iconographic interest. 1. For a quick overview of the Phoenician and Punico-Hellenistic periods in Maltese history vide A. Ciasca, "Malta", in S.Moscati (ed.) The Phoenicians, Milan 1988,206-209. 2. The Maltese Islands became a possession of Carthage around the mid-6th century B.C. They became a Roman possession at the outbreak of the second Punic War in 218 B.C. 3. On the early Christian and Byzantine periods: M. Buhagiar, "Early Christian and Byzantine Malta:
The Melite Civitas Romana Project: The Case for a Modern Exploration of the Roman Domus, Malta
The Roman Domus in Mdina, Malta, has become an idealised example of the Roman presence in the Maltese Islands; the partial remains of a lavishly decorated domus that would have in its time been situated within the walls of the urbanised Roman city of Melite. The site, last excavated more than 100 years ago, is also home to the only museum in the Maltese Islands, which is solely dedicated to house and showcase a collection of artefacts that date from the Roman period in Maltese history. This site alone provides a unique perspective on Roman Malta, being our only substantial remnant from the Roman Maltese capital, and needs a refocused and renewed exploration. For a long time, the archaeology of Roman sites in Malta has suffered a distinct lack of priority, and it has only been in the last two decades that considerably more focus has been placed on understanding the Roman period. Most of the archaeological focus, in this respect, has centred on agricultural villas, and though this study has illuminated a better understanding of the Roman period, very little has been undertaken in the last century in piecing together the importance of urban Melite to the broader nature of life in the islands, as well as their place in the larger context of the central Roman Mediterranean. The Melite Civitas Romana Project offers the potential of new understanding of the domus and the surrounding archaeological environment through a modern exploration of the site and the promise of the first available assemblage of Roman material from an urban Roman context.
D,Cutajar 2014 Late Baroque Art in Malta - the Buhagiar and Zahra Families.pdf
The art of native Maltese artists underwent a vigorous rebirth in the course of the 17th Century thanks to direct contacts with a number of worthy continental artists - a slow but accelerating process culminating in the excited flourish of mid-18th Century Late Baroque. This study provides the essential researched biography of the native Maltese protagonists of this phenomenon: Gio Nicola Buhagiar and Francesco Zahra.
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