Dr Mark Sagona, Ph.D., visiting lecturer in the Department of Art and Art History, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta will be delivering a public lecture on ‘The Renaissance Revival: its Manifestation in Malta’, as part of this year’s Festival Mediterranea. The lecture will be held at the St Cecilia Medieval Church at Xewkija in Gozo on Friday 17 November 2017 at 19:30.
Among the many Revivals in nineteenth century art, the Renaissance Revival was one of the most diffused across Europe: in England, in Germany, in Spain and also in Italy. Malta, a British colony with its soul in Rome, was not oblivious to such important currents. Painting, sculpture, architecture and the decorative arts all show this formidable influence. Through artists like Giuseppe Hyzler who exerted his influence on painting, sculpture and design, several artists who journeyed to Rome for their studies, the Galdes family of designers, architects like Giuseppe Bonavia and Emanuele Luigi Galizia, the importations of works in silver from Rome and the creation of church furniture, the Renaissance Revival presented itself as an antidote to the Baroque. Its manifestation in Malta was instrumental in providing the little island at the periphery of Europe with a strong, contemporary European cultural and artistic identity.
The lecture will trace the development of this little-studied phenomenon in Malta and the channels for its manifestation throughout the nineteenth century.