Category: Addolorata

Maltese Gothic

18/6/2013

The time between completing one drawing and starting out on another is never a comfortable one...if I stop for too long it is never easy to start off again and sometimes the ideas just will not come...so when the light bulb goes on in my head it's time to grab it by the horns. Ok - wrong choice of metaphors and the light bulb will probably not survive that...

This idea hatched a few days ago...I must have been looking at a reproduction of Grant Wood's iconic American Gothic - painted around 1930 - or just possibly one of the many parodies it has spawned over time. So I reckoned why not a Maltese parody on the subject. We have our own iconic neo-Gothic cemetery and our local gravediggers have a reputation of sorts - specifically that they are often insensitive to the point of uncouthness during burials...understandably a poignant moment for the relatives and friends of the recently departed.

So I find myself drawing a rough sketch of what the picture/composition might look like just a couple of days after completing work on my previous drawing - a luxury in the sense that I now have something to chew on, an idea that needs development, and questions that I will ask myself. What will the characters look like? Will I add a couple of tools of the trade - like a wrecking bar for instance - thus consciously imitating Grant Wood's pitchfork-carrying countryman? Will the scene be at night or should I go for a dreary daytime grey sky? Which part of the cemetery should I include as backdrop? The magnificent main chapel or the main gate as in this preliminary doodle?

A few sketches will definitely help clear these dilemmas. What is fairly certain is that the long process of composing a picture has started and I am enjoying it.

Practically that's enough for now!

This blog post will be updated with progress on this drawing as I plod along...

Maltese Gothic / Id-Deffiena - exploratory sketch 18/06/2013

Does a grave digger look like this? Exploratory character sketch - I like the hare lip...

Tall, gangly type...

Sourced photo of the Addolorata gate helps me to start drafting...

In reality the sourced photo is very little to go on - so I drive to Addolorata and take a few pictures myself on a Saturday morning. Now at least I know what the detailed carving looks like up close - though I will use artistic licence liberally...

Pencil work ready - four days after I started. Still have not figured out what color scheme to use,
a monochromatic scale is also an option.

Tentative pen work in black and sepia while keeping an eye on the complicated symmetry
(no pun intended)

Straight line-work...I hate this part of the drawing

A color scheme starts to emerge - blue-grey sky, diffused trees and a subdued palette...

...and finally Maltese Gothic is done.

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The Addolorata Cemetery

11/11/2012

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This short article first appeared in the November edition of Air Malta's inflight magazine Skytime
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In common with Christian cultures all over the world, most Maltese mark the month of November with a visit to the graves of their departed loved ones. There are several village cemeteries scattered all over the Island, mostly humble, quiet and somber places usually adorned by a small central chapel.

Malta also has a large national cemetery which merits an off the beaten track visit for its architectural and aesthetic values. The Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery, on the outskirts of Paola, was designed by local architect Emanuele Luigi Galizia and opened in 1869, initially as a burial ground for the towns and villages of the vicinity. Galizia was a gifted architect who not only introduced the Gothic revival in Malta - best exemplified here - but also experimented with a number of styles, most notably in the construction of the Turkish cemetery in Marsa as well as a number of Moorish themed houses in Sliema.

At the Addolorata, Galizia made exceptionally good use of the site’s topography, placing the cemetery’s main chapel at the top of a hill from which a number of tree-lined lanes meander down to the cemetery’s main entrance which is adorned by a gatehouse and a beautiful curved portico.

The Addolorata easily compares with the finest of Europe’s monumental cemeteries, having a good number of richly carved private mausoleums in its older parts and a good representation of funerary sculptures.

Most noteworthy of the latter is a poignant bronze put up by a travelling businessman who, upon his unexpected return to the Island, so surprised his ageing mother that the excitement apparently helped to quicken her demise. Like most other places in Malta, the Second World War left its mark on the cemetery and this fine sculpture still bears the unmistakable scars of bomb shrapnel in its lower part. Another notable monument is the one dedicated to the memory of the Sette Giugno victims. On 7th June 1919 a number of Maltese were killed while rioting against the colonial forces. The unfortunate deaths are widely perveived as the catalyst that eventually led to Malta being granted its first Constitution by the British in 1921.

A visit to the Addolorata may not be everyone’s favourite excursion but this extensive burial ground certainly represents another aspect of Malta’s rich cultural and historical heritage.

The Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery is open every day of the year from 7am to 4.30pm.

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Addolorata - Notes and Oddities

9/10/2011

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A guided visit to the Addolorata Cemetery is not everyone's cup of tea but I was not going to miss this one - organized by Marthese's work colleagues and ably led by our guide who shall go by the name of Mr.M.

The Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery was designed by Emanuele Luigi Galizia, (1830 - 1906), of the Public Works Department, and opened on 9th May 1869. Galizia is mostly remembered as the architect who introduced the Gothic revival locally but he also designed the so called Turkish Cemetery in Marsa and a couple of exquisite houses in Moorish style in Sliema. Clearly the man was exceptionally talented and versatile.

Interestingly the Addolorata was not meant to be a national cemetery but rather a burial place mostly for the towns and villages in the vicinity which had no burial grounds of their own. There was also a reluctance to use it at first and no one was buried here for the first few years of its existence. Today over 200,000 people are interred here.

The Addolorata can perhaps be called a monumental cemetery because of its exceptional use of topography - with the cemetery planned very symmetrically around a hill with the main chapel at the apex. There is a dearth of impressive monuments although the western side of the cemetery has quite a few beautifully designed, privately owned chapels.

The starting point was the Dominican chapel where the nun Teresa Parlar was buried in 1927. Parlar was known as something of a mystic in her time and was controversially reputed to have eaten little if anything from the age of eight - surely a record as far as hunger strikes go. Parlar got into some trouble with the colonial authorities because of her saintly reputation and she was for a time hospitalized and put under observation. Today she is all but forgotten.
There is a short audio link about her on Campus FM here http://www.campusfm.um.edu.mt/pages/webcastspages/nisamaltin.htm

One of the stranger curiosities is the tomb of a business family from Marsa whose crest is a tower. The tower is reproduced on the tomb and the family apparently chips a block off the tower every time a member dies.

Perhaps the most poignant monument is the one put up by a travelling businessman who, upon his unexpected return from abroad, so surprised his mother that she apparently died suddenly on seeing him. This is one of the finest sculptures at Addolorata even though it still has shrapnel damage (visible lower right in the photo above) when a bomb exploded nearby in the Second World War.

Also of artistic merit is the Sette Giugno monument which recalls the 1919 riots and contains the remains of four of the victims. The monument was designed by the Russian émigré artist Boris Edwards and recalls the style of our own Antonio Sciortino. Incidentally the cemetery did contain a few funerary sculptures by Sciortino himself but these have apparently all been stolen. An interesting article on Boris Edwards can be found here http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110605/life-features/Between-myth-and-reality.369196

One other oddity is the tomb of an unfortunate boy who was killed by a fallen brick. The actual brick that killed him was incorporated in the statue adorning his tomb. Incidentally the unlucky boy was nowhere near as ugly as the tifel tal-precett represented on the tomb.

A last oddity and infamy - there is apparently only one illegally dug tomb in the whole cemetery and this belongs to a deceased former politician who was notorious enough in his life. It is not pretty to speak ill of the departed but to carry one's arrogance into the next life is something else…

Most of the information here was supplied by the very knowledgeable Mr.M who made this visit a highly interesting one.

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Maltese Gothic

The Addolorata Cemetery

Addolorata - Notes and Oddities

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