The Observing Eye: The French artist Jean Houel in Malta

The French artist Jean Pierre Louis Laurent Hoüel is rightly described as master of the ‘vedutismo itinerante’. Art historians have acknowledged his important contributions to the development of 18th-century landscape painting. Volume four of his magnus opus, the Voyage pittoresque des îles de Sicile, de Malte et de Lipari …, contributes substantially to our knowledge about the state of locations and monuments during his two visits to Malta and Gozo in 1770 and 1777. This new book also includes more sketches and reproductions of the original gouache paintings related to these islands which are now preserved in the Hermitage in St Petersburg. The qualities of these gouaches and plates, especially his neo-classical rigour and verism, make his work to a very important source of documentation for the archaeological and classical heritage of Malta and Gozo. Except the sketches, watercolours, and works on oil on canvas by his direct contemporary Louis Ducros, no other artist except for Hoüel has carried out such a number of first quality depiction of Malta’s landscape, archaeological sites, architecture, and country folk. The accompanying text makes clear Hoüel’s profound knowledge – at least by the standards of his times – of the history, geo-physical structure, and folklore of the Maltese archipelago.