The portfolio of Nazarene drawings at the Wignacourt Collegiate Museum, Rabat, Malta : "serie di schizzi fatti da varii alunni dietro tema, dato dal Maestro sig. Giuseppe Hyzler"

Abstract

My foremost aim was to establish the Nazarene drawings of this portfolio in their corresponding artistic and historical context. Therefore I decided to introduce this dissertation topic by first describing the artistic conceptions that held sway, both abroad and in Malta, during the early nineteenth century and presenting, with particular emphasis, the ideologies, inspirations and style of the Brotherhood of St. Luke in the first chapter. The sequence of ideas, in these first two chapters, is orientated in such a way as to introduce the Nazarenes and the name of Giuseppe Hyzler, first separately and finally as directly linked. The fruit of this link - the setting up of the Nazarene studio and school by Giuseppe Hyzler in Malta - is briefly treated in the second chapter. Bearing in mind that the Nazarene drawings in the portfolio were carried out in an art class situation ( ''fatti da varii alunni dietro tema dal Maestro Sig. Giuseppe Hyzler"), my second intention is to discuss, in this chapter, the training programme created by Hyzler for his students, some of whose names continue to be remembered for their participation in important commissions. I firmly believed that an appreciation and improved understanding of the Nazarene drawings, in the third chapter, could be made only in the light of the thorough background provided by the preceding chapters. As far as the aspect of attribution was concerned, several difficulties arose due to the absence of signatures or names written beneath the drawings (except two) and the absence of any inventory which would have thrown light on my work. Neither was it possible to distinguish between different hands in the drawings themselves generally because of the prevailing uniformity in style. Organising the Nazarene drawings according to attributions had, therefore, to be avoided and their discussion and artistic appreciation was determined by other factors: iconography, media and levels of competence. The idea constantly running parallel to that of appreciating the Nazarene drawings for their artistic validity, was to treat them as points of departure in order to find out more about the training system in Giuseppe Hyzler's school This important aspect highlighted the close connection secured between Overbeck and Hyzler as well as provided grounds for the thematic sources of these drawings. Comparative analyses with Nazarene drawings from other collections were carried out in the fourth chapter so as to confirm particular aspects that were brought up in the foregoing chapters and to increase the artistic and historical value of the Notary Catania portfolio of Nazarene drawings, part of his bequest to the Wignacourt Collegiate Museum.