Ciro Ferri's reliquary for the Oratory of S. Giovanni Decollato in Malta

Abstract

Studies an elaborate silver and gilt-copper reliquary for the right hand of S. John the Baptist which Hanno-Walter Kruft attributed in 1970 to Ciro Ferri (Valletta, Museum of the Co-Cathedral of S. John). Sciberras publishes and interprets recently-discovered documents, 1686-1690, that confirm Ferri's involvement with the reliquary, establish its date (1686-1689), and allow the silversmith responsible for the casting (Urbano Bartalesi) and the sculptor who provided the models (Francesco Nuvolone) to be identified. The documents also illuminate the progress of the commission. Frà Marcello Sacchetti, ambassador of the Order of S. John in Rome, played a key role throughout the commission and it is through his correspondence with both Grand Master Gregorio Carafa (the patron) and Carafa's secretary, Frà Giovanni Domenico Manso, that some of the most important evidence emerges