The International Institute for Baroque Studies at the University of Malta has just published the 2018 edition of the Journal of Baroque Studies, edited by Prof. Frans Ciappara.
This issue includes several articles of interest, reflecting the mission statement of the Institute to disseminate general and specialised knowledge about the Baroque heritage of mankind.
The contributions include Prof. Francisco Gaudioso’s Morte e pratiche testamentarie nel XVII secolo; Dr G. Krasskova’s Eunuchs for the Sake of Heaven: Castrati and the Suffering Body of Christ; Dr Petra Caruana Dingli’s The ‘Culture of Writing’ in Late Sixteenth-Century Malta: Oliviero and Caterina Vasco’s Charitable Deed; Dr Christine Muscat’s The Magdalene Monastery, Valletta in the Age of the Counter-Reformation: Attitudes, Action and Negotiation; Prof. Vicki Ann Cremona’s Finding the Vilhena Cabreo Designs Under the Manoel Floorboards; Dr Paolo Militello’s New Cities’ in the Spanish Dominion Between the 16th and 17th Centuries: A Proposed Comparative-Historical Analysis; Dr Noel Buttigieg’s The Inquisitor’s Palace Kitchen Complex: Manifestations of a Baroque Material Culture; Prof. Gennaro Cassiani’s On a Mission for the Duke of Nevers: Ludovico Gonzaga’s Roman Agents and Henri IV’s Papal Absolution (1589–95); Prof. Charles Savona-Ventura’s Baroque Intellectual Developments on Members of a Chivalric Order in France and Dr Stephen C. Spiteri’s Balì de Souza’s Establishment of a Fondazione for the Production and Supply of Bronze Cannon for the Order of St John, 1770.
A conclusive section entitled ‘Books received’ includes reviews of three books: The Baroque Mind by Prof. Denis De Lucca; Caravaggio. La fabbrica dello Spettatore by Prof. Giovanni Careri and Hidden Legacies of Baroque Thought in Contemporary Literature: The Realms of Eternal Present by Dr Jelena Todorović.
The Journal also contains useful information about the M.A. in Baroque Studies course opening next October and guidelines for potential contributors.
The Journal may be purchased from leader bookshops and from the administrative office of the International Institute for Baroque Studies at the University of Malta.