The National Library of Malta will be holding on Wednesday 24 April its monthly public lecture on ‘Fortress Aesthetics and its Silent Poetry: The Maltese Fortified Landscape and its Representation in Art’. The lecture is to be delivered by Dr Stephen C. Spiteri from the International Institute for Baroque Studies, University of Malta. In this lecture particular attention will be given to the factors that influenced Matteo Perez D’Aleccio’s representations of the Hospitaller defences of the Great Siege in 1565.
There is something unique about the shape and overwhelming presence of fortifications that inspires both a sense of awe and at the same time a gentler more romantic feeling. Fortifications have fascinated artists for centuries and the image of the fortress, whether real or imaginary, has lost nothing of its ability to impose itself emphatically upon the imagination. A large part of this visual power is derived from the fortress’ setting and its privileged place in the landscape. This lecture discusses the manner in which this visual experience of the fortress and its landscape acquired artistic value throughout history.
The lecture will be held on Wednesday 24 April, 18:30 at the National Library in Valletta. Admission to the lecture is free.
This lecture forms part of a series of public lectures on Urban Landscapes organised by the National Library of Malta for 2018-2019. The series of public lectures entitled ‘Cities, Harbours, and Artefacts: transformations of an early modern landscape’ is coordinated by Mevrick Spiteri and Maroma Camilleri. The next monthly lectures are:
Lecture 7: 29 May 2019 at 18:30
'Of Markets and Melting-Pots - Commercial spaces in Early Modern Valletta by Christian Mifsud
Lecture 8: 28 June 2019 at 18:30
'Malta's harbour in 1798 - the transformation of a new urban landscape' by Mevrick Spiteri
Further information is available on the National Library of Malta Facebook page. For queries please feel free to send an email to events.library@gov.mt.