The miraculous image and the ex-voto tabella in Malta

Abstract

The plan to make a study of Malta's vernacular art, in the form of ex-voto tabelle, and in the particular context of a Miraculous Image, was prompted mostly by two reasons. An exhibition at the Cathedral Museum in Mdina, accompanying the publication of a book by A.H.J. Prins, a Dutch anthropologist, dealing with maritime ex-voti in Malta initially fired my interest; and secondly, my personal involvement as a painter gave me such belief as is necessary to be convinced by the power of the visual image. The image in question is part of a religious ritual, and although the resulting combination of signs and symbols - the ex voto tabella - may be seen as a document of society, it is also a primary document of artists who though untrained, made frequent reference to the high art of the Baroque period. It is this aspect of the vernacular which has been the basis of my research, and which has provided the model for an analysis of stylistic convention. It also entailed studying other related areas of the votive tradition - the Sanctuary, the various nomenclatures of the Madonna and the cults and iconography connected with them. The examination of a large number of tabelle resulted in their classification into groups related by similar pictorial style, giving rise to a hypothesis concerning Michele Gonzi and Vincenzo Gonzi, vernacular artists who I believe were influential in determining the formula and convention of ex-voto Page paintings. Unlike many others their work is identified by their signed initials.