Face to face with mystery : theological perspectives behind the painting of the Annunciation in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mdina ; a mystagogical approach

Abstract

Standing before the Annunciation of the Virgin (see illustration), titular altarpiece of the Carmelite Church in Mdina (Malta), one could not help noticing that “the elements of chiaroscuro provide a three-dimensional perspective to the painting, inviting the person looking at it to participate in its contemplative dimension.” The Carmelites friars commissioned this altarpiece, an outstanding work of “the "nest and most talented Maltese painter of the late seventeenth century,” in 1677 for their newly built church and friary. Art critics agree in judging this huge canvas (316 x 266cm) as a “compositionally well-devised” painting where the Late Baroque Maltese artist Stefano Erardi (1630-1716) showed “his ability in the organization of a large space.”Admiring a painting considered locally to be “one of the most powerful representations of the Annunciation scene,” one could not help posing the question: Is there something more to the painting than “painterly mastery ... solid brushwork ... outstanding freshness,” and the logical division into two tiers?