Exuberance to sobriety : church iconography in Malta from the Baroque machina towards a puritan artistic sensibility (1565–1930)

Abstract

Anyone travelling in Malta can see from a distance how the cityscapes are crowned with the great mass of their churches and belfries. Over time, towns were busy because of their churches, and nowadays, they stand as an image of what a church town used to be. And what was a church town? It was a lifestyle, which breathed through and with its church, where houses huddled below the church’s imposing structure, streets converged to it, and people turned from their everyday activities to gaze at the church. In Malta, churches represented a strong sense of community. The peasant and the knight participated in the life of the church to the same extent and with the same affection during its construction over the decades. Everyone, without exception, was involved in the common life of the parish church. No one in town rested at night without being aware that outside, whether near or far, they too possessed riches.