Baroque statuary in Malta with reference to Alessandro Farrugia : 1781-1871

Abstract

Baroque is a phenomenon which you can hardly find anyone who has never heard of it, especially in Malta. Throughout my study and research, I have learnt more about this particular period and how it changed the mentality of ruts and artists throughout the whole of Europe. It is fascinating how Baroque came into existence, to say so. This style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church in order to communicate religious themes and served also as a show of power and dominance of the same church. All this started in Rome and later on in Paris. Other countries followed and one could see the transformation of Europe from embracing medieval style to a much more modem style for that time, a style which is still loved till to date especially in our country. In fact, this is also a point worth noting, that as in other countries, the Baroque faded away and nearly came to an end, in Malta it is still very popular especially during the village festas in which good an10unts of money are spent from year to year on Baroque decorations to be displayed in the village core and streets. I wanted to go into more detail as regards this topic and I focused my attention on the sculptor Alessandro Farrugia. Here, I am presenting some of it for the benefit of all to read. Alessandro Farrugia or as he was known, Xandru. Farrugia was from Zejtun and lived between 1781 and 1871. Farrugia executed beautiful works which we still have the benefit to see and admire till nowadays. His works are distributed around the island and enjoy the general good name and high esteem of the people. Obviously, to come to Xandru Farrugia 1 had to search on the importation of Baroque to Malta, how was it influenced from foreign countries and how it progressed as the years went by. In compiling this thesis I used both primary and secondary sources. I also made use of some unpublished primary sources such as notarial acts at the Naxxar, Mqabba and Zejtun Parishes and sometimes, problems cropped up with regard to accuracy and fragmented information, whereas in other cases, no information at all was found. Researching and working on this thesis proved to be very interesting and I am grateful to the International Institute for Baroque Studies. Though it was not an easy task to do, I hope to shed more light on the history of Baroque Statuary in Malta and on this great sculptor; Alessandro Farrugia (1781-1871) and to make the people more grateful and aware of what capabilities this artist had and also, appreciation to the general art in Malta.