A selective study of bozzetti by twentieth century Maltese sculptors

Abstract

This thesis seeks to study the bozzetti in the art of a select number of 20th century sculptors concentrating on Francesco Saverio Sciortino, Antonio Sciortino, Josef Kalleya, George Borg, Giovanni Spiteri Sacco, Vincent Apap, Marco Montebello, Victor Diacono and Anton Agius. This dissertation seeks to study a selected number of bozzetti that have been shelved and forgotten since their production. The study of the bozzetto has never been given the importance that it really deserves and this is proven by the lack of academic studies on the subject. Although I would have liked to include original documentation, this proved to be almost impossible since many works are not even documented. The following chapters start focusing on the bozzetti. Every chapter is divided into subtitles devoted to every selected artist. Thus every subtitle bares the artist's name and they are placed according to their date of birth. Stylistic analyses were drawn and where it was appropriate, works by different artists were compared and contrasted. The second chapter discuss bozzetti with a sacred subject. Common themes pervade the artists' studios. The third chapter illustrates the importance of bozzetti for fountains. Although the subject was perhaps the least popular among the selected themes, this study throws light on a number of works in the context of the European artistic scene. Chapter Four provides an important study on the production of bozzetti for public monuments. Besides their commemorative role, monuments also served as free propaganda for the artists. Bozzetti for funerary monuments were also given importance in this study and they are included in Chapter Five. The last chapter which is the conclusion gives a summary of all the chapters discussed and it evaluates results and draws conclusions to this study.