|
Professor Mario Buhagiar talks to Gilbert Calleja about his study on the medieval artistic heritage of Malta
Wide-eyed saints in stiff postures, decorative motifs and arched interior settings form the first picture which stuck to my mind as I went through ëThe Late Medieval Art and Architecture of the Maltese Islandsí by Professor Mario Buhagiar. This is the latest publication by the Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti and the fourth study by the author who is also head of the Art Unit at the University of Malta.
 I met him at his office in the Richard England maze called the faculty of Architecture and tell him about my first impressions of the book or rather the period between the Norman conquest at the turn of the twelfth century and the arrival of the Knights of the Order of St John in 1530.
Professor Buhagiar is of a more cautious nature than myself and starts off with a warning
ìThe overall picture of Medieval Malta is more obscure than that,î he tells me ìespecially the first 200 year period after the arrival of Count Roger in 1091. Notwithstanding the countís coming to Malta the Norman period started off in earnest in 1127 when Roger II re-conquered the islands in Sicilian waters Malta is the only island mentioned specifically in the contemporary chronicle of the event.î
Buhagiar explains how during the period in between 1091 and 1127 Malta had apparently ìrelapsedî into the African sphere of influence. The process of Europeanisation-Latinisation-Christianisation of the Maltese started after the second coming of the Normans when they set up a garrison (a military-run post) in Mdina. However, the rest of the population ñ the inhabitants of the hamlets, the sparse family-based ërhulaí ñ remained largely Muslim.
ìFrederick IIís exile of his Muslim subjects to Lucera (in Puglia, Italy) closed a chapter in Maltese history but the Muslim imprint continued to be felt for a long time. It may also have been the case that some Maltese Muslims accepted baptism to escape expulsion from the island.î
ìThe re Christianisation of the Maltese Islands may, in part, have been carried out by Greek rite Sicilian monksî he says. ìTheir arrival had an impact on the art and architecture in Malta. The surviving paintings and the rock-cut churches of the early post-Muslim period bear witness to a Siculo-Byzantinesque artistic tradition. î
ìA determining period was the short Anjevin period in the second half of the thirteenth century. The Latinisation of Malta appears to have been accelerated. The codex of the Four Gospels which is remarkable for the beauty of its initial letters may have reached Malta at around this time. This very fine codex (manuscript) had been produced in a Norman Scriptorium in Sicily and two tinted drawings one of which represented St Paul, seem to have been added to it when it was donated to the Cathedral Church of Malta. Bishops of Malta down to the time of Archbishop Michael Gonzi took their oath of office on this book.î
Citing several other examples of codices, antiphonaries and works of art including a reference to a ëSt Michaelí icon in the inventory of the church in fort St Angelo, Buhagiar tells me that the document states that the icon was adorned with precious stones. (The work is nowadays lost.)
The book also throws light on vernacular art.
Professor Buhagiar is eager to talk about the ëvulgarí artistic idioms and buildings, ìVernacular architecture is often remarkable for its sculptural massing and logical articulation of space. One can justifiably refer to it as an ëarchitecture without architectsí,î he says, ìWe also have mention of some of the vernacular artists who used to travel from village to village decorating churches and producing devotional images. Johanni Pulsella is a case in point. He used to travel on his donkey painting ëiconsí. He is documented as the author of an apse painting in the Attard church. An interesting anecdote about Pulsellaís commissioned work concerns the church of St Peter annexed to the parish church of Zurrieq where the artist and the parish priest reached an agreement to exchange their respective ëanimalsí. Pulsella exchanged his donkey for the priestís mule and this ëupgradeí was his part payment.î
Very few of these works survive and documentation is sparse. Giuseppe Hyzlerís engravings of the works in the old Siggiewi Parish church are one of the few exceptions.
What is the importance of this study and academic research in general?
ìThe art historianís place in society is to help better contextualise, hence understand, our cultural heritage. This book takes us back to the origins of our Christian and European roots. It helps us understand better who we are and where we come from.î
ìI have tried to give as much a comprehensive picture of Malta as could be read through the remains. This book brings together almost 30 years of research on Medieval MaltaÖ it is not incorrect to say that this is the result of a lifetimeís work,î he tells me but his usual savant confidence is betrayed by a sense of resignation. I ask about his future projects and his face lights up again.
ìI am currently working on the second volume which will focus on the years in between the knightsí arrival in Malta in 1530 up to the early 17th century thus closing the book with Caravaggioís brief stay.
|
