Antonio de Saliba’s renaissance altarpiece for the Franciscan observant church of Ta’ Ġieżu, Rabat : an art-historical analysis, condition assessment and hypothetical digital reconstruction

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to bring forward further insight into Antonio de Saliba’s now dismembered 1515 Renaissance altarpiece which he produced for the Franciscan Observant Church of Ta’ Ġieżu in Rabat, Malta. The study on this altarpiece, being referred to here as the Rabat Polyptych, includes research on the eight extant panel paintings from this work and its now lost Late Gothic gilded framework. The two central panels, namely the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels and the Deposition, hang at Ta’ Ġieżu whilst the six recently rediscovered panels are owned by local private collectors. These panels’ state of preservation at the time of this study – and the absence of the original framework – inhibit the full artistic appreciation of the altarpiece, thus, these panels are historically, visually and scientifically analysed in this study, whilst a hypothetical digital reconstruction of the altarpiece’s layout and possible framework is presented. The first chapter reviews the literature selected regarding the current state of research on the Rabat Polyptych and the artist Antonio de Saliba. It also clarifies the methodology employed throughout this research and includes an interview conducted with architectural historian Mr Carmel Spiteri discussing the hypothetical digital reconstruction of the framework of the Madonna del Soccorso Triptych. The second chapter contextualises the Rabat Polyptych within the story of art at the turn of the sixteenth century in Malta. It discusses the origins of the Franciscan Observant Order, their values and life of poverty, their establishment in Malta, and their Church of Santa Maria di Gesù in Rabat. Emphasis is placed on patronage dynamics, comparative analyses of the Rabat Polyptych, and the other significant Franciscan Observant commission – the 1504 Carrara marble Madonna and Child sculpture by Antonello Gagini. The third chapter discusses Antonio’s artistic formation, production and influences, predominantly those of his uncle Antonello da Messina, his cousins Jacobello and Salvo d’Antonio and the Venetian Giovanni Bellini, as well as his collaborations with his father, the intagliatore Giovanni de Saliba. This chapter also visually analyses the six rediscovered panels and draws comparisons to Antonio’s 1530 Monforte San Giorgio Polyptych. Antonio’s 1503-04 Taormina Polyptych is discussed in relation to the concurrency of the Late Gothic and Renaissance styles which were also present in the Rabat Polyptych. A trip to Sicily, including Catania, Taormina, Messina and Monforte San Giorgio, was necessary to come into intimate contact with Antonio’s wider oeuvre, Antonello da Messina’s 1473 St Gregory Polyptych, and other works by the antonelliani. A hypothetical digital reconstruction of the Rabat Polyptych, modelled on the altarpieces at Monforte San Giorgio and Taormina, presents a tentative visual representation of what the altarpiece in Malta may have originally looked like. The fourth and final chapter discusses the panels’ state of preservation at the time this study was conducted. The panels were diagnostically tested using raking light, ultraviolet fluorescence, infrared reflectography and X-radiation (the latter carried out by PrevArti Ltd) to visually map out the panels’ state of preservation and compile condition assessment reports prior to their restoration. The wood identification (carried out by Wood and Furniture Science) and pigment profiling (carried out by Consulenza e Diagnostica per il Restauro e la Conservazione) are scientifically compared to the already restored central panels of the altarpiece to strengthen the hypothesis that they belong to the same Franciscan Observant commission. This study was conducted in parallel with the larger research undertaken on Late Medieval and Renaissance art in Malta and antonellian studies, to which the present author was offered the opportunity to contribute by Dr Charlene Vella. The X-rays, wood identification and pigment profiling carried out during the course of this research were funded by the private patrons.