https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/3307 Previously known as Department of History of Art 2026-04-04T23:05:56Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145305 Title: International perspectives on the decorative arts : nineteenth-century Malta Authors: Sagona, Mark Abstract: Perspectives on the Decorative Arts in nineteenth-century Malta was the title of the first conference on the Decorative Arts with a focus on Malta which I had the honour and privilege to convene, together with my colleague and friend from the Universita’ degli Studi di Palermo, Dr Roberta Cruciata, for the Department of Art and Art History, Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta. The conference, which was held at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Valletta on the 2nd May 2019 – on the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) – was a very significant milestone for the Department’s growing interest in the artistically rich field of the Decorative Arts in the Maltese Islands. This academic initiative was also a watershed for the study of this little-studied subject, one of the fundamental pillars of art-making in Malta and Gozo. The peculiar politico-religious set up of the time permitted a distinct rapport with the larger international dimension of the Decorative Arts in the period. Hence the title of this publication. There is an international common denominator which runs throughout all contributions. [extract] 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145302 Title: The Cannataci family of silversmiths : design invention, stylistic evolution, and workshop production in nineteenth-century Malta Authors: Sagona, Mark Abstract: This paper aims to examine the extensive and diverse oeuvre of the members of the Cannataci family of silversmiths across three generations active in the central Mediterranean island of Malta throughout the entire nineteenth century. It focuses on a selection of works by the brothers Saverio and Giovanni, by Giovanni’s son Vincenzo, and Saverio’s grandsons Roberto and Francesco Saverio. Silversmiths in nineteenth-century Malta were numerous but it is clear that the family dominated silver production on the island throughout the century, especially in the field of the ecclesiastical decorative arts. This contribution posits their work within peripheral and international contexts of design and decorative arts history, and considers it within a pivotal period for the development of the decorative arts in Malta. Despite its peripheral geographical position, the peculiar status of Malta as a British fortress colony with a staunchly Roman Catholic population, facilitated the absorption of international currents. Malta also retained the strong bond with Italy which had been nurtured during the long dominion of the Order of the Knights of St John. Supplying a huge demand for both domestic and ecclesiastical artefacts, the Cannataci family of silversmiths produced numerous works of all kinds and uses, ranging from quotidian utensils and vessels to larger pieces of church furniture and liturgical objets d’art. This contribution explores the design invention, the artistic quality and stylistic evolution of their oeuvre. Moreover, it investigates possible sources of inspiration and the nature of the workshop structure, as well as collaborative efforts with leading Maltese designers. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145299 Title: Eclecticism and the Baroque Revival in the decorative arts in Malta : the context for Abramo Gatt (1863-1944) Authors: Sagona, Mark; Gatt, Anthony; Murdoch, Tessa; O’Donnell, Roderick Abstract: This publication, the second volume in the scholarly series Studies in Central Mediterranean Decorative Arts, is dedicated to one of the most remarkably rich episodes in the extraordinary and profuse story of the decorative arts in Malta: the years straddling the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. is book discusses the prevalence of Eclecticism and Baroque Revival currents in the decorative arts in the islands of Malta and Gozo during the height of British colonial domination, and celebrates the islands’ most gifted native designer of the fin-de-siècle, Abramo Gatt (1863-1944), on the eightieth anniversary of his death. There were several Maltese designers who reflected the European predilection for such design solutions, but the oeuvre of Gatt is surely the most emblematic of this fascinating era, and it brilliantly captures the design mood of the epoch, especially in the context of the ecclesiastical decorative arts. Eclecticism became perhaps the most representative quality across the arts in this period, but it was most palpable in architecture, design and the decorative arts. As the nineteenth century drew to its close, this attitude gradually morphed into more ornate heaviness, an exuberance which is symptomatic of the Baroque Revival. This artistic development in design attitudes can be witnessed in both Malta and across the Continent, especially in areas dominated by Roman Catholicism, but not only, as the introductory essay aims to show. [extract] 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145256 Title: Currents of Baroque Revival in the decorative arts in Malta : 1870-1900 Authors: Sagona, Mark Abstract: This paper discusses and analyses the strong presence of ornate design currents on the small central Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo in the final decades of the nineteenth century. Despite its geographical location at the periphery of Europe, Malta has a deeply root ed and time-honoured tradition in the field of decoration and ornament which goes back centuries. The nineteenth century came to consolidate the European calling of the decorative arts on the islands and aligned them with the major trends in design across Europe. Works in silver, wood, embroidery and other media, commissioned especially for the numerous churches and monastic establishments, were produced both in Malta and abroad in important centres like Rome, Paris and Lyon. From the late 1860s, the interest in Renaissance Revival forms and the eclectic fusion of varied styles was joined by a growing love for more ornate solutions. The eclectic flavour remained but decoration turned heavier and Baroque and Rococo forms became more insistent and diffused in a large number of works. The available evidence shows that this tendency started to become more evident in the 1870s. Maltese production from this period involved works both by locals such as the Cannataci silversmith brothers, Francesco Saver io (active from 1867) and Roberto (active 1863–1890s), and the wood carvers Paolo Bugeja (1840-after 1905) and Carmelo Teuma (ca. 1869-ca. 1936)– and foreigners, such as the Italian Vincenzo Cardona (active ca. 1880-ca. 1913). This current continued to consolidate itself in the last two decades of the century, especially in the works of designers and carvers active in the maritime city of Vittoriosa. It peaked at the turn of the twentieth century and persisted in the works of the two most prolific designers of the first half of the twentieth century: Abramo Gatt (1863-1944) and Emanuele Buhagiar (1876–1962). 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z