Art as life: Caravaggio in Malta: 2023

This publication is the result of some thirty years of research engaging with
Caravaggio’s Maltese phase by Prof Keith Sciberras. Malta, impressively, played a role
in giving Caravaggio’s art the platform that it deserved, celebrating him in a manner
that no other patron or place did, and this work aims to show this. In its method,
this book, primarily, contextualises Caravaggio’s work and his life-story within the
framework of Malta and within the mechanics of patronage and the peculiarity of its
system of government. It engages with Caravaggio’s Maltese paintings and presents
them not as objects of visual delight or seduction but as conveyors of meanings and
experiences that engage with the self and the consciousness of reality. The Oratory
of the Decollato in Valletta, for example, ceased to be a dormant architectural space
once Caravaggio’s Beheading of St John the Baptist was installed. It became a space of
experience, captivating exchange its audience, penetrating into mental frameworks,
thoughts and emotions. The profundity of this exchange blurs the boundaries
between object and viewer, strengthening the view that the ultimate meaning of
this work lies not solely within the confines of the sense of sight.

Contents: Painting for his life; Art as experience; The corpus of his final years (1606–1610); The secure corpus of works; Lost works, proposals, rejections and controversies | Moving south: from Naples to Malta; The Order’s Galley Squadron; The Colonna family, Caravaggio and the Knights of St John; The Squadron’s expedition of 1606/1607; Illustrious passengers: Costanza Colonna and Ippolito Malaspina; Caravaggio’s passage to Malta | Valletta: a calculated gamble; Toti Orienti Svasere Formidandum: Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt; Valletta: Art and Architecture; Michael Angelus Caravaggio Romanus | Protection and patronage networks; Corridors of power: Roman connections; The Embassy to the Papal Court; Cardinals, Priors and protectors | The first Maltese paintings; Portrait of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt and a Page; St Jerome Writing; Portrait of a Knight Grand Cross (Antonio Martelli) | Virtuosity honoured: Knight of Magistral Obedience; Giacomo Bosio: An advocate for Caravaggio’s cause; Triumph: The Papal Bull; The Receptio ceremony | The paintings of 1608; Sleeping Cupid; The Annunciation of the Virgin | Sangue Vivo: Caravaggio’s apex; The Oratory and the Confraternità della Misericordia; The Beheading of St John the Baptist; Blood joining blood | Indegno Mediante i Demeriti: Tumult and Disgrace; Escape and expulsion; ‘We remove you, crush you and throw you away’: Trial and Privatio; Sicily: A double fugitive | Reflections on Caravaggio’s technique | Archiving Caravaggio | Documents | Data sheets | Endnotes | Bibliography | Index