The International Institute for Baroque Studies, in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura and the Italian Embassy will be holding a public lecture titled From Renaissance to Baroque: Findings on the Palace of the Grand Masters in Valletta. The lecture, delivered by Dr Theresa Vella, will be held on Wednesday 24 May at 18:30 at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura at St George's Square, Valletta.
Post-Siege plans of Valletta gave prominent locations for the site of the Palace of the Grand Masters: the first choice was on the highest point of the promontory, but this was soon abandoned in favour of a site at the very heart of the city. The early shift in plans set the pattern of change in the building of the Palace, particularly visible in the transition from its Renaissance foundations to its Baroque manifest splendour. Its history is thus one of adaptation to changing artistic and architectural norms and to increasingly sophisticated expectations of its foremost resident, the Grand Master of the Order of St John and Sovereign of Malta.
Dr Theresa Vella is an art historian and consultant museologist. She lectures in Baroque Painting and Sculpture at the International Institute of Baroque Studies.