Portraits of the Knights of the Order of St. John in Maltese public collections (1600-1800)

Abstract

This dissertation aims at quantifying the portraits of the Knights of St. John which were executed during the Baroque era by various artists and are therefore of various quality and form. These portraits were executed so that the valiant sitters would be remembered by posterity and hopefully this dissertation gives an accurate account of their lives as well as the stylistic richness which the works offer to the oeuvre of art in Malta. This dissertation is part of a study being carried out at the University of Malta, under the tutorship of Dr. Keith Sciberras, which aims at quantifying Baroque portraiture in public collections. This is the third study which has been undertaken and the previous two tackled secular portraiture of the period, an important contribution made by Romina Delia and the second delved into the portraits of Popes, Bishops and High Ecclesiastics, carried out by Kenneth Cassar. Together with this dissertation and others being carried out concerning the portraits of the Grand Masters of the Order of St. John, the Baroque Portrait could be truly captured and quantified. There is unfortunately little information regarding the subject of portraiture in Maltese research, this is especially true of the Portraits of the Knights of St. John which have unfortunately been largely overlooked even though many of them hang in constantly used government buildings and are also painted by some of the foremost artists of the period. It is also unfortunate that a large amount of these portraits exist in private collections and therefore go beyond the limits of this thesis and also, interestingly enough, few are to be found in churches. The search for portraits therefore also focused on various convents and other buildings used by the Knights of St. John as well as the National Museum of Fine Arts. Subsequently this dissertation provides as many subjects as possible as well various new attributions. The Dissertation begins with an overall introduction to the history, order and traditions of the Religion. It is subsequently followed by three chapters of catalogues each with their own introductions. The first tackles the subject of the Historical Image of the Knight and raises speculation over various images which bare similarities to etchings found in Giacomo Bosio' s Istoria. The second Chapter deals with the portraits presented in the full length genre and centres around offering various stylistic attributes as well as historical relations to the sitter in question. The third chapter tackles the bust and half-length portraits of the Knights. Each catalogue entry presents a picture of the portrait in question which are assorted in chronological order, according to when they were executed so as to provide a concise, successive development of Baroque portraiture-during the time of the Knights. The information attempts at showing the stylistic affiliations of the individual artists as well as the role of the sitter in the order, where possible.