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The Late Medieval Art and Architecture of the Maltese
Islands. By Mario Buhagiar. Pp 278, 340 col ills. Valletta:
Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, 2005. ISBN 9993210358.
€45.50 (hbk).
Dany Sandron
The Antiquaries Journal / Volume 90 / September 2010, pp 501 - 503
DOI: 10.1017/S0003581510000429, Published online: 02 September 2010
Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0003581510000429
How to cite this article:
Dany Sandron (2010). The Antiquaries Journal, 90, pp 501-503 doi:10.1017/S0003581510000429
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REVIEWS
questions simply cannot be answered, however,
such as why the separate inlay brass evolved in
England but not in all parts of the Continent. It is
to be hoped that further international research
and collaboration will reveal more about the
similarities and differences in medieval tomb
production and patronage across Europe.
English Church Monuments in the Middle Ages
will prove to be a standard work on the subject.
As Saul explains in his preface, this monograph
is a synthesis of his own extensive work and
thoughts on the subject over many years while
also taking into account the recent work of
other scholars in the field, although the many
references to the Cobhams throughout the book
and in the index show how it incorporates much
of his own earlier work. There can be no doubt
that, in turn, this very impressive study will
inspire others to undertake further research and
increase our understanding of how, why, by and
for whom English tomb monuments were produced during the medieval period.
SOPHIE OOSTERWIJK
doi:./s
The Late Medieval Art and Architecture of the
Maltese Islands. By MARIO BUHAGIAR. Pp ,
col ills. Valletta: Fondazzjoni Patrimonju
Malti, . ISBN . h. (hbk).
Mario Buhagiar, Professor of History of Art at
the University of Malta, provides us with a
synthesis of the art and the architecture of the
Maltese Islands from the arrival of the Normans
in until the islands were yielded to the
Knights Hospitallers of St John in . This
study gives us the opportunity to emphasize
Malta’s participation in a medieval Mediterranean culture, between Muslim Africa, Western
Christendom but also Byzantium and, towards
the end of the period, the Siculo-Aragonese
world.
The work, which gives an important place
to the extensive medieval patrimony of the
bishopric town of Mdina, is divided into ten
chrono-typological chapters. The first section
goes back to the fourth century and presents the
first evidence for a Christian presence with the
catacombs in the vicinity of Melite, which show
remarkably well-preserved triclinia. The Rabat
catacombs still retain considerable remains of
painted decorations. The Byzantine presence,
effective as from , has left noticeable traces
in Tal-Silg, where it is proposed to restore a
basilica and an adjacent baptistery with a
centred plan. The fortification of sites such as
Melite is evidence of a defensive policy against
the Muslims, who took the island in . Only
one major site – Rabat cemetery – can still show
evidence of the Muslim period, which otherwise
left such a persistent mark on Malta, commencing with its language. Nevertheless, the
descriptions of the fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury houses, and recent discoveries of the
structure of dwellings, show the persistence of
Islamic traditions in civilian architecture from
rosette decorations through to the existence of
baths, which remained in use during the SiculoNorman period.
The second chapter evokes the reconversion
of Malta to Christianity and the Latinization
of its culture. St Anne’s Church in Birgu and
the Santa Sofia palace in Mdina offer us local
examples of meticulous rubble-stone constructions similar to Sicilian examples (Martorana in
Palermo). The walls of Mdina and Birgu (Fort
St Angelo) also constitute very carefully built
complexes. Mdina Cathedral was probably the
most important religious building on the island.
Reconstitution of the medieval church, rebuilt
after an earthquake, which damaged it in ,
requires a certain amount of caution. It was
probably a three-aisled basilica-type building;
through older descriptions, we know that its bell
tower was crowned by a dome (a qubbah),
probably similar to those which crown the
churches of San Cataldo or San Giovanni degli
Eremiti in Palermo. Amongst other objects, the
treasure of Mdina Cathedral still contains an
important mid-twelfth-century Gospel book, in
all likelihood imported from Sicily.
The third chapter deals with cave dwellings
located in what are, at times, spectacular sites
and with the dry-stone buildings that are found
in the countryside. Installations associated with
irrigation and water supply are not neglected.
The fourth chapter deals with ‘Siculo-Greek’
monasticism, established in the island before
for missionary purposes, as shown by
Henri Bresc, and with cave churches. In
Abbatija tad-Dejr, the most important foundation, the underground catacomb installations
are particularly extensive. Remains of painted
decoration, evidence of a ‘Siculo-Byzantine’
culture, still exist in some of these sanctuaries.
The fifth chapter deals with stone-built
churches (San Cir in Bubaqra, Comino, Santa
Maria tal-Baqqari near Zurrieq, San Bazilju
in Mqabba, Gnien is-Sultan near Rabat, the
church of the Annunciation, Hal Millieri, Santa
Maria ta’ Bir Miftuh near Gudja, Santa
THE ANTIQUARIES JOURNAL
Domenica, Zabbar, the church of the Annunciation à San Leonardu near Rabat and the
church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Ta’Qali).
From a statistical point of view, the author
mentions the list of churches drawn up in ,
which records more than buildings, which,
for a population estimated at the time to be
,, is equivalent on average to one church
for fifty people.
The church of the Annunciation of Hal
Millieri still contains the most important painted wall decoration; this cannot be dated earlier
than the reconstruction of the church during
the last two decades of the fifteenth century.
Isolated depictions of saints are found on the
sections of wall defined by the arc’s diaphragm
(St George depicted twice either side of the west
door, St Nicholas, St Augustine, St Lawrence
and St Francis, St Andrew, St Agatha (?) and St
Blaise, St Vincent, St Paul (?) and St Leonard).
Difficult as it is to give the precise origins of
this remarkable group, the role of the ‘romanesque’ hieratic tradition should not have been
so overemphasized, given that these images
placed relatively fluently within the space, with
distinguishable features, bear the hallmarks of
fifteenth-century art.
Chapter deals with town houses at the end
of the Middle Ages (fifteenth and early sixteenth century), mainly on the Mdina site,
which has recently been surveyed extensively,
particularly the palaces (Palazzo Gatto-Murina,
Palazzo Falsone, Palazzo Inguanez and Casa
Isabella), as well as some medieval houses in
Birgu and Rabat. This gives us the opportunity
to draw up the typology of the representative
elements formed by the bays, which adds to our
knowledge of this type of opening within the
sphere of influence of Sicily.
The seventh chapter returns to Mdina
Cathedral, rebuilt in the eighteenth century, but
preserving important medieval furnishings. A
bell, commissioned in Venice in , is signed
with the effigy of St Paul by the bell founders
Victor and Nicolaus. Another bell was cast in
in Tortello, in southern Italy. White marble column fragments may possibly originate
from the bell tower of Mdina’s medieval
cathedral, which we know was decorated in
– with eight figures, probably statues,
which were acquired in Palermo. Funerary
monuments, paintings mostly from the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, are mentioned, as are
the choir stalls acquired in by the cathedral
clergy from the Rabat Dominicans, who had
commissioned them five years earlier in Catania, from the workshop of the brothers Parisio
and Pier Antonio Calachura, as is proved by the
surviving legal contract. The intarsia decoration
suggests contacts with the best Italian artists, as
illustrated by the Nativity scene, for which the
author suggests knowledge of the art of Antonello da Messina’s workshop.
After the Benedictine foundation of St
Nicholas Tal-Merhla near Qrendi, the church of
which was rebuilt in the seventeenth century,
the eighth chapter deals with the mendicant
orders. Malta’s first contact with the mendicant
movement originated with the Third Order
Franciscans. From this there issued the foundation of a hospital with a church in Rabat,
before , but the buildings, both church and
hospital, were rebuilt later. The church of Santa
Maria di Gesù originated with the Observant
Franciscans; the Augustinians also established
themselves in Malta, as did the Dominicans, the
latter in the church of Santa Maria della Grotta,
but also in Birgu. The Carmelite White Friars,
the Benedictines of St Peter and the nuns of
St Scholastica complete this picture of monastic
foundations in Malta.
The ninth chapter deals with the rural
and parish churches of the fifteenth and early
sixteenth centuries, which were considerably
extended at the time, a factor relevant to the
ecclesiastical architecture scene well into the
seventeenth century. They still have extremely
rich decorations, as shown in wall paintings
(Rabat), retable parts and liturgical objects
(ciboria, chalices, censers) mostly made of silver,
as well as crucifixes.
The final chapter studies works of art,
paintings or sculptures, with respect to the
Siculo-Catalan focus of the late Middle Ages.
The works in question are a panel with superposed images of the archangel St Michael, the
Dormition of the Virgin and the Resurrection of
Christ (Mdina Cathedral Museum) from the
late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, again
strangely labelled as ‘Romanesque’, and the
retable of St Paul (also in the museum), which
decorated the main altar of Mdina Cathedral
until the end of the seventeenth century. This
major work of the Maltese heritage is relocated
within the sphere of influence of Luis Borassa.
As for the end of the period, artists connected
with Sicily are mentioned, such as Giovanni
Salibe – probably the Giovanni of Saliba or
Resaliba documented between and
who had married a younger sister of Antonello
da Messina – and his two sons Pietro and
Antonio of Saliba. From the latter artist (/
–c ) are preserved two panels of a retable
disassembled in the church of Santa Maria di
REVIEWS
Gesù in Rabat. The Gagini’s prolific workshop
also supplies a fair number of sculptures in
Malta, which gives us further evidence of the
particularly close artistic links with Sicily.
A list of the artists, architects and craftsmen
mentioned in the book for the late Middle Ages
is found at the end of the volume together with
brief biographical notes. An index of places and
people makes it easier to refer to this book,
which will undoubtedly become the standard
reference source for art and architecture in
medieval Malta.
Malta has suffered important losses since
the end of the nineteenth century, not only
as a result of bombardments during World
War II, but also because of urban development
and building pressures that are particularly
sensitive for this island of a few hundred
square kilometres which, sitting at a cultural
crossroads, presents a very rich and astonishingly diverse heritage. We should thank Mario
Buhagiar for having drawn a highly accessible
picture of an art which enjoys an important
place in a diversified European cultural landscape.
DANY SANDRON
doi:./s
William Dugdale, Historian, –: his life, his
writings and his country. Edited by CHRISTOPHER
DYER and CATHERINE RICHARDSON. mm.
Pp , b&w ills. Woodbridge: Boydell,
. ISBN . £ (hbk).
This collection of essays originated as a series of
papers delivered at a conference in September
entitled Dugdale and his Warwickshire, a
belated celebration of the th anniversary of
Dugdale’s birth in and the th anniversary of the publication in of The Antiquities
of Warwickshire. It consists of eleven papers with
an Introduction and Conclusion by Christopher
Dyer. The first essay, by Graham Parry (author
of the article on Dugdale in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography), entitled ‘The
antiquities of Warwickshire’, places Dugdale’s
great work in context with preceding histories of
other counties. Whilst following their form and
concentrating on heraldry and genealogy, local
offices and institutions, the scope of his work
and depth of his research was much greater
than his predecessors and he also linked local
matters with national affairs. The Dissolution
of the Monasteries was for Dugdale the most
signal disaster in the nation’s history and the
Reformation in his eyes was too severe. The first
volume of Dodsworth and Dugdale’s Monasticum Anglicanum had been published in
and, as the principal scholar of monastic history, Dugdale was able to convey to his readers
the sense of the lost society that existed before
the Dissolution as he proceeded through the
description of towns and villages in Warwickshire. As a herald, he was well placed to record
heraldry and genealogy and understood visual
impact and the importance of illustration: his
employment of Wenceslas Hollar transformed
The Antiquities of Warwickshire with views of
towns, monuments, windows and heraldic
shields.
Whilst there is much fascinating material,
the book is not a biography of Dugdale and
so does not bring out his remarkable energy
and the volume and consistent quality of his
scholarship. The last four pieces, in particular,
follow a theme referred to in the Introduction
in that the authors were invited to illuminate
for modern readers those dimensions of
seventeenth-century Warwickshire that Dugdale
would not have thought appropriate for inclusion in his account of the county. These are
‘Late seventeenth-century Warwickshire society’
by N W Alcock, ‘Sir Richard Newdigate and the
‘‘Great Survey’’ of Chilvers Coton’ by Steve
Hindle, Peter Borsay’s ‘Warwickshire towns in
the age of Dugdale’ and Catherine Richardson’s
‘Material culture in early-modern Warwick’.
The Great Survey of Chilvers Coton – produced
by a jury empanelled by Sir Richard Newdigate,
nd Bt (–), in – listed the names,
occupations and ages of all those (including
infants) who lived in the households in
Chilvers Coton. The author states that the
Newdigate–Dugdale connection can be traced
back in the Newdigate archive at least to the
early s and adds: ‘The context, of course,
was Dugdale’s role, as Garter King of Arms, in
organizing the Visitation of Warwickshire in
/.’ As Garter, however, Dugdale had no
role in organizing the Visitation. Visitations
were organized by the provincial Kings of Arms,
whereas Garter dealt with peers. The article
also refers to Gregory King (–) and
states: ‘By King was Rouge Dragon Pursuivant, acting as one of the two deputy heralds
to Sir Henry St George, Clarenceux King of
Arms, for the Warwickshire and other Midland
County Visitations.’ Deputy heralds were local
deputies appointed by the Kings of Arms, the
best known being the four generations of men
named Randle Holme in Chester. King was not