The Context of Caravaggio's 'Beheading of St John' in MaltaAuthor(s): David M. StoneSource: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 139, No. 1128 (Mar., 1997), pp. 161-170Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/887391 .Accessed: 06/03/2011 16:50

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C)N 1st December 1608, some two months after his escape from a Maltese prison and flight to Sicily, Fra Michelangelo da Caravaggio was defrocked in absentia by his fellow brothers of the Order of StJohn ofJerusalem, the Knights of lVIalta.' Stripped of the honorary knighthood 'd'Obbedienza Magistrale' that the Grand A1aster Alof de Wignacourt had granted him on 14th July, the artist had now greatly diminished his chances of receiving a papal pardon for the homicide he had committed in Rome in 1606? The knights' tribunal per- formed the pri7vatio habitas in the recently constructed Oratory of S. Giovanni Decollato in the Conventual Church of St John in Valletta.& Thus the absent painter suffered the indig- nity of being degraded directly in front of his freshly com- pleted masterpiece, the Beheadzng of StXohn the Baptist (Fig. 7). t At the conclusion of the trial, as the court minutes state, Car- avaggio was 'expelled and thrust forth' from the order 'like a rotten and fetid limb'.;)

The enormous picture Caravaggio left behind has often been interpreted from a psychoanalytic point of view. Readings of the Beheading have proposed guilt over murder, obsession with the Baptist, or a pathologically violent tem- perament as significant factors in the artist's handling of this subject. Such ideas, however, ignore the fact that the basic iconography was determined by the requirements of the work's unusual patrons and location. Indeed, many aspects of Caravaggio's treatment of the theme were directly inspired

*This article svould not hasTe heen possible utithout the generosity of CanollJohIl Azzopardi, vvTho gave expert advice on MaltaXs archises and shared ssTith me his dis- covery of the ltabat lunette. Numerous other friends in Malta have offered valuahle assistance: Alexander Bollnici O.F.M. C1OI1E, Claude Busuttil, Dominic Cutajar,Joe SIuscat-Drago, aIld the staff of the National Malta Library. In Italy, I svas fortullate to receive practical advice fromJohn Spike hefore my first trip to :\Ialta. I am also grateful to Car;Johll Critien, Director ofthe S.NI.O.NI. Library, ltome, and his assis- tant Lucia Feo as ss7ell as to the Director aIld staff at the American Academy ill ltome. In Bologna, Fabio Paltrinieri provided me with essential bibliograph) SIy research has heen made possible hy an Andresv \t Nlellon Senior Fellouship in the Department of European Paintings at the SIetropolitan SIuseum of Art, New Yorl<, for which I am much obliged to Keith Christiansen. I also received support from a Project Development Grant from the University of Delaware. For comments on drafts of the text, I offer my sillcerest thanks to Sarah SIcPhee and Louise ltice. I have greatly henefited from Linda Pellecchia's editorial advice aIld eIlcouragement. IThe best early chronicle on the order in English is R.-A. DE VERTOT: The Historl of tXle Ktlights of AIalta, London [1728] (orig. ed., Paris [1726]). For a recent survey, see H.J.A. SIRE: The Knights of ilIalta, New Haven and London [1994]. 2For the artist's sojourn, see Caravaggio in ;\Ialta, ed. P. FARRUGIA RA.NDON, Malta 1 1989], especially the following contributions: D. CUTAJAR: 'Caraxraggio in SIalta. His ATorks and his Influence' (pp.l-18); J. AZZOPARDI: 'Documentary Sources on Car- avaggio's Stay in SIalta' (pp.l9-44); and idem: 'Caravaggio's Admission into the Order: Papal Dispensation for the Crime of Murder' (pp.45-56). See also M. CALVESI: Le Realta del Caravaggio, Turin [1990], esp. pp.ll5-28, 363-70; s. MACIOCE: 'Car- avaggio a Malta e i suoi referenti: notizie d'archivio', Stona dell'artet LXXXI [ 1994J, pp.207-28; and G. BONSANTI and M. GREGORI: CaravaggiJo da AIalta a Firenze, exh. cat., Palazzo Vecchio, lSlorence [1996]. sFor the church, see H.P. SCICLUNA- tEhe Charch of St.)ohrz irz Valletta, ltome [1955]; and D. CUTAJAR: tIalta: History and 11Horks of Art of St. ohn's Church Valletta, Valletta [1992] . 4For the literature on the painting before CUTAJAR'S publication cited at note 2 above) see M. CINOTTI: XIishelangelo AiAer2si detto il Caravagg2io: t7>tte le opere, Bergamo [1983] (reprinted from I Pittori Bergamaschi, vol.I), no.23, pp.445-47.

by the oratory and its function as a hall for the instruction of the novices and the private devotions of the knights.

In the study that follows, recently discovered documents, prints, and a lunette painting shed new light on the context for Caravaggio's Beheading. This new material and a re-exam- ination of the site made possible by the removal of the picture from its frame,7 now provide some secure clues with which to begin a reconstruction of the oratory's early history and the role Caravaggio's work played in it. The evidence also demonstrates how, with the subsequent redecoration of the oratory, Caravaggio's work was recontextualised, its meaning subtly shifted in accordance with the vicissitudes of the knights' artistic taste and religiosity.

In 1680, the knight NIattia Preti began an ambitious reno- vation of the oratory, which had been constructed some seventy-five years earlier, in 1602-05.8 By the time his plans had been fully carried out, iI1 1695, he had eradicated most traces of the original environment for Caravaggio's Beheading located on the east wall.t' Sponsored by the Prior of England and Venice, Fra Stefano Maria Lomellini, "' Preti's late baroque redecoration included the adornment of the walls and ceiling rith gilded wood, frescoes, and oil paintings (Fig.6). " Blocking the sixth window on the north side, he con- structed a vault with a large lantern over the east end and placed a massive marble altar containing the arms of Grand Master Gregorio CarafEa (1680-90) some three metres in

'Et ext1^a ordinem et consoaStium nostsRum tanquam menlbrtzm putridum etfoetidum eiectus et sepa- ratusfuit.' See AZZOPARDI, loc. cit. at note 2 aboxre, p.39. 'iH. HIBBARD- (aravag^vio, Neel York [1983], esp. pp.928-34, 264; for heheadings in Caravaggio il1 general, see L. SCHNEIDER: 'Donatello and Caravaggio: lnhe Icono- graphy of Decapitation', American Imago, XXXIII [1976], pp.77-91. /On 25th April 1989 the bottom of the painting uras slashed. lnhe canvas, svhich is curreIltly in Florence for repair, svras cornprehensively treated in 195;) in ltome; see R. (8ARITA: 'I1 restauro dei dipinti carasraggeschi della cattedrale di SIalta', Bollettino dell'Istitato Centrale del Restauro, XXIX-XXX [1 957], pp.4 1--82. ' For the huilding of the oratory, see SCICLUNA) pp. 138-39; and CUTAJARt pp.88-94 (both cited at note 3 above). My discussion of Preti's renorations follosss CUTAJARr loc. cit. at note 2 abos/e, p. l0, though I find no esTidence that the raising of the Beheadmg M as due to a mistake. SincHe the frame does not match the mouldings on the side walls, from the heginlling it must have heen intended to he elevated and distinct (Fig. l l). "Technically, the oratory's altar ssall is at the south-east end. i"Lomellini's donations to the oratory are documented from 24th October 1678 to 26th August 1695 in an unpublished early eighteenth-century text in the National Malta Library, Valletta (hereafter cited as NML), Lib. MS 142 vol.I/6, pp.l75-79. Contrary to svhat is often asserted, neither Lomellini nor any earlier Prior of Venice was responsible for constructing the oratory or commissioning the Beheading. For the legend on >hich this error is hased, see C;BrTAJAR) pp 1 1-13, and AZZOPARDI)

pp.23-24 (hoth cited at note 2 ahove). There prohahly svas no patron for the Behead- ing. It was most likely a passaggio, the gift (often monewr), knights gave the order upon receiving the Cross (see D. CUTAJAR and c. CASSAR 'Budgeting in 17th Century Malta: An Insight into the Administration of the Comun Tesoro', in Reports and Accounts 1983. Mid-NIed Bank Limited, Malta [1983], pp.22-32). t 'The renovations required raising the ceiling and constructing a new roof, for doc- uments, see The Charch of St. ffohn in Vallettan 1578-15)78, ed. J. AZZOPARDI, exh. cat. Valletta [1978], no.28, p.43. The cared and gilded ceilingwith paintings by Preti was installed in 1683; a marble balustrade in 1684; and gilded pilasters - with paint- ings of the saints of the order inserted between them - in 1685; see J. SPIKE'S reviesv ofthe exhibition in THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINEn C:xx [1978], pp.626-28.

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DAVID M. STONE

The context of Caravaggio's 'Beheading of StJohn'

CARAVAGGIO S WORK FOR THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

6). T/le be.hearling of 5'f 70hn fAe Baptisf, t)y Caravaggio, in the Oratory of S. Giovanni Decollato (Co-Cathedral of StJohn, Valk tta).

{ront of (Caravaggio's picture. lz A triumphal-arch-shaped screen with crowns and escutcheons carried by putti was built to serve as a frontespizio' for the entire altar area, creating the effect of a chapel within a chapel. Rounding out the new

12Ax (XtJ'I^JAR, l.0(.. (.it. (lt llOtC 2 at)ovc, p. 10, explains, the profile of the blocked win- dow is .still visit)l( oll thc cxtcrior, llOW the muscum's Tapestry Room. The lantern may havc b(ell put in to (ompcllbsatc for the lost illumination. However, a lantern above th( oratory is shown ill a veduta of c. 1650 of the fac,ade of StJohn's (National Mus( um of i'illC Arts, Valletta); see M. BEHiACIAR: The Iconography of the Maltese Islands, 1400 190(): lvainting, Valletta [1987], fig.5.27 on p.106. The painting, by an anony- mous (?Dutth) artist, suggests that Pre ti's lanterll may have replaced an earlier one. Allother prot)l(m is thc date of the oratory's windows. C)n the exterior are the r(mains of pilasters too short for the window frames. Ihis suggests that Preti

162

design, a gilded-wood lunette, with an oval tondo of the Madonna dei sette dolori at its centre, was placed in the zone above the Beheading.' $

Lacking documentary evidence and the opportunity to

enlarged the windows; see J. QUENTIN HUGilES: The Building of Malta, I,ondoll [ 1956 1, p.72. Illusionistic frescoes on the south wall datable to c. 1680 -95, which mirror the north windows, would seem to confirm this (Fig.6). I$According to C,UTAJAR (op. cit. at noto 3 above, p.91) the extant marble revetment of the piers and pilasters and the marble balustrade are the work of the D'Amato fam- ily of Messina and belong to a later renovation of 1 742-43. S(,l(,LUNA, (op. cit. at noto 3 above p. 140) states that the pilasters (designed by Preti) were originally made of gilded wood and carried the arms of Lomellini. With few eXCeptiOIlS, the marble tombs in the floor date from the eighteenth celltury.

CARAVAGGIO S WORK FOR THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

7. A/le behe.aflitzg of iSt^30hn the Bapti.st, by CMaravaggio. 361 by 520 cm. (Co-Cathedrsll of StJohn, Valletta).

read through the thick encrustation of Pretian ornament, scholars have been frustrated in their attempts to understand even the most basic elements of the oratory's original design, including the placement of the altar and the location of Car- avaggios canvas. At least one historian has wondered if the Beheading might not have been made for a different site and placed in the hall at a later moment.l It has also been ques- tioned whether the picture was originally conceived as an altar-piece. Indeed, its horizontal format and asymmetrical composition are more typical of 'laterali', such as the Con- tarelli Calling of St Matthew. Ir) The odd isolation of the Behead- ing created by the remote placement of Preti's huge altar only adds to these uncertainties.

The removal of the painting inJune 1996 brought to light aspects of the oratory's early architecture normally obscured by the large baroque frame Preti installed around the Behead- ing and by the base and scaffold he built to support it.lfj The base, which is anchored into the wall with beams (Fig8), brings the canvas forward some 80 cm. into the room, prob- ably to protect it from the damp wall,l7 or to accommodate the high-relief sculpture of the Addolorata above. Preti's base and frame mask the original stone pilasters with their Tuscan capitals described by Cutajar but never before reproduced (Fig.ll).l>$ The pilasters are spaced 618 cm. apart, allowing ample space for Caravaggio's canvas, which is 520 cm. wide. With the removal of the canvas, one can now also see that a simple frieze (Fig.10) continues the profile of the capitals

] t(,U'rAJAR, loc. cit. at noto 2 ahovc, p 10. ;I thank IJouis( Ricc for jsharing this observation with me. '}Prcti's monumental woodwork surround.s a slender, probably earlier frame. I7Also visiblc behind thc basc, at the corncrs of the room, are rectangular openings (?vellts) that opoll illtO the vault below. I"(,UTAJAR, loc. cit. at notc 2 abovc, p. 10, mcntions 'fluted' pilasters, though they actu- ally havc a sillgle, inset pallel with borders. I hc capital on the right is unornament-

8. Interior of base and e il_ scaffolding, wlth _ '' 't4 X . id

pilaster in south _i- i f X i-1 corner of the oratory. i "

across the east wall and that the pilasters support a semi-cir- cular archivolt that defines a lunette-shaped area.0"

The simplicity of the elements now visible on the east wall lends support to the hypothesis that the original oratory was

ed, but has a few indentations. The capital on the left is partially gilded and fluted. The capitals were originally plain This discrepancy may havc becn duc to a work- man's error or to a change by Preti during thc works. I"The stone archivolt rises at a steeper pitch than the curvc of thc gilded support for the Madonna. This suggests that the archivolt preceded the 1680--95 renovation and is almost certainly of 1602-05.

163

CARAVAGGIO S WORK FOR THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

1(). Fricze o11 east wall aftcr the removal of the Z]eAle(lding ill julll 19'36.

rustication on the prison gate, the position and size of the barred window, and the semi-circular cluster of figures are all instantly recognisable. Given the fidelity of his reproduction of the Beheading (which he took pains not to reverse) and the general validity of his rendering of the architecturen Kilian, who is not known to have visited Malta, must at least have received a sketch of the painting and a verbal description of the oratory.

Whereas the shape of the hall and placement of the altar are verifiable, there is no documentation to confirm the exis- tence in this period of a base with two doors beneath the pic- ture as shown in the engraving Certainly the base makes sense, since one would not expect such an enormous painting to hang on hooks afhxed to the wall. The two doors are less plausible, however, especially considering that the other side of the east wall is an exterior. Perhaps Kilian misunderstood verbal instructions referring to the still extant doors sat the hack ofthe hall'. These doors are actually on the left and right walls of the presbytery, not under the painting29 Also prob- lematic are the enormous brackets and shallow arch of Kil- ian's frame) though these elements are also prohably related in some way to the architectural details of the early oratory.

In addition to its significance for documenting how and where the Beheading was installed, the print draws attention to the fact that the painting frequently appeared as a menacing backdrop for criminal trials, with the defendant placed just in front of StJohn's executioner. Kilian's plate introduces Oster- hausen's commentary to Section VIII) the Statute on the Squardio or criminal tribunal,26 which 'si convosa a suono di Cam- panan e si tiene . . . nell'Oratorio di S. Ciovanni'.2} The scene depict- ed is the very privatio habitus to which Caravaggio would have been subjected had the knights caught him after his escape. The trial in absentia followed a similar procedure: the habit (a

cd that in the Oratory of StJohn, he saw: 'une e.xcellente table d'autel de l.a (Ie.collation du mesme sainct que ledict Seigneurgrand AJaltrey afaict mettre, c'e.st un cavre tre.s-e.xcellent de A.a main defeu ASichael-Ange comme il .ve retnarque en la .sou.s-cription' . Scc J. BAIxSAMO: SIJCS CCar- avages de Malte: le temoignage des voyageurs franKais (1616-- 1678)', in (lome dipinge- va il Gearavaggio. Atti della giornata di studio, ed. M. GREGORI, Milan [ 1 996], pp. 1 5 1 -- 53. Pace Balsamo, Benard clearly mcant (Caravaggio by if eu Alichael-Ange'. 2iThe north door leads to a small sacristy; the south door Icads to thc (Jrand Prior's offices (today occupied hy a bank). 240STERHAUSEN, op. cit. at note 20 ahove, pp. l 85----90. For thc Statutc (revision of 1686), see VERTOT, op. cit. at note 1 above, II, pp.61-64. 2;Quoted from an unpublished manuscript of 1637 cntitled 'Statuti et Ordinationi del Hoserhausen' in the S.M.O.M. Library, Rome, MS. 30, p. l l 7. 'Irhc text is prob- ably a copy of Osterhausen's draft for the rare first cdition, Statuta, Ordnunge.n und Ger- baeuche . . ., Frankfurt [1644], which I havc not yet located and which may contain Kilian's engravings.

-<- o g Q X v_a 9. T/lecrimin(lltribunal

SYi 1 ogthe Knigilts oJAlalta in

t the l)mtl)ry of 5. (Jlovann

_ iC.Wtb>lie Ulllv rsity

Wblshillgtoll).

a spartan., rectangular room with a flat ceiling similar to the truss-roofed structures huilt hy the knights in the late Cinque- cento. Complementing these observations is a recently dis- covered engraving that provides new visual evidence for the Beheading's placement in the hall and its status as an altar- piece (Fig.9). One of several illustrations in Fra Christian von Osterhausen's lgook of 1650 on the statutes of the order,2" the plate was engraved hy a member of the prolific Kilian print- making dynasty of Augshurg., WolEgang Kilian.'i As the only known image of Caravaggio's painting in situ hefore Preti's renovation, the engraving has the potential to settle a num- lger of the long-standing controversies outlined ahove. More- over, since no major changes to the oratory are documented hetween 1605 and the date of the hooks publication, Kilian's illustration almost certainly reflects the original installation of Caravaggios painting

The engraving shows a windowless, rectangular room with projecting sections of wall (or perhaps tall pilasters?) at its narrow end. Between them hangs Caravaggio's Beheading, ahove a modest altar placed directly in front of it.22 Despite what is obviously a very summary depiction of the oratory, Caravaggio's composition is clearly represented. The heavy

2"Eigentl.i(.her und grundli(her lXericht . . ., 2nd cd., Augslourg [ 1650] . My thanks to Bar- t)ara He llry at C5atholie Univcrxity of America for permission to photograph its copy. lhoma.s Fr(ller iIldepclldcIltly foulld the print in Valletta (NML BF-1--31) and })rought the rekrellec to Azzopardi's attclltion; bSCCJ. AZZOPARDI: 'Un 'S. Francesco' di CCaravaggio a Malta Ilel secolo XVIII: commenti sul periodo maltese del Merisi', in ASichelangelo Meri.si da (,amsaggio: I,a Vita e Le Opere attraver.so i Documenti: Atti del Con- ve.gno Internazionale uti XSltueti, cd. s. MA(IC)(XE, Romc 11996], pp. 195--21 1, fig.84 (attrib- utt d to ()sterhau.scll). Ior ()stcrhausen, sec M. GAI,EA: Die Deut.schen Ordensritter von lkI(zlta, Malta [1t39fil, ppv53 72. '"'I7hough this print, captioned 'Num. 1 1' abovc thc top border, is unsigned, all twen- ty of'thc prints in thc NMI, copy, which seems complete (the CUA copy lacks four platc.s), arc arguably by thc samc hand. The frontispiece and nos.6, 7 and 9 are signed t)y WolEgang Kilian iIl various way.s. '2N. BE,NARD: Le Voyatge de Hieru.salem, Paris [ 1 fi2 1 ], pp. 78--80, provides earlier testimo- ny that thc picture was an altar-piecc. On 30th November 1616, Benard comment-

164

(8ARAVAGGIO S WORK FOR THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

I I . l'ilsistc rs oll tht t ast wall, cltirilig the clismalitlilig of thc Beheading in May 1996.

surrogate) was ripped from a stool rather than from the shoulders of the wayward knight.2'i

No stranger to trials, Caravaggio would surely have known about this use of the oratory when he designed the Beheading in 1607-08 (Fig7). In fact, the prison gate and window, in addition to fulfilling in grand style the standard requirements of the Beheading's iconography, are poignant allusions to that most feared of rules, Statute XVIII 'Prohibitions and Penal- ties'. All Caravaggio's fellow knights would have recognised the artist's source - a print illustrating Statute XVIII by Philippe Thomassin - and understood its meaning (Fig. 12).27 The engraving is one of the most striking images in the Statu- ta Hospitalis Hierusalem (Rome, 1588), the statute-book used until 1609.28 Caravaggio may have known this book even before his trip to Malta, since his employer in the early 1 590s, the Cavalier d'Arpino, designed the frontispiece and several other plates.2')

Thomassin's print sets up a dichotomy no knight could misconstrue. On the right, posed like 'twin towers' of virtue in front of one of the earliest representations of StJohn's, two knights proudly display their habits, rosary beads, and cordone (with the instruments of the Passion). On the opposite side of the composition, their errant counterparts, still wearing the Cross, peer gloomily out from a prison window. Their

'" After reaching a verdict, 'si lege la Sentenza in presenza del condannato et a tre commanda- mentifatti il Maestro 55cudiere li leva l'>zabito in tre dXerenti atti e .5e il delinquente e a.s:sente .vi leva una vesta . . . posta sopra un Scabello con l'iste.s.sa Cterimoniale' (MS cited above, p. 1 17). 2iRecent studies have incorrectly seen the Gralld Master's pala^e ax the source for the Beheading's prison. Not only are the buildings dissimilar, t)ut C>aravaggio would hardly have wished to equate Wignacourt with Herod. For Thomassin, see E.

BRUWAERT: La vie et les curre.s de Philippe Thoma.s:sin graveur troyen 1562 I f22 rI royt s [1914], esp. pp.l9-20, 76, and nos.63--100. 2'lThe Statutes passed in 1603 under Wignacourt were IlOt published ulllil six years later: Gli Statuti della 58acra Religione . . . Rome [ 1609] . 2"H. ROTTGEN: II C8avalierD'Arpino exh. cat., Palazzo Vellezia, Rom(} [19731, no.(j8 on p.l46; no.I on pp.l72---73, repr.

165

,

12. De profiibitionibu.s et poenis, illustration to Slatute XVIII, by Philippe Thomassin. Ellgravillg, 18.3 hy 1 ;3.8 cm. ((atholic Ullivcrsity of America, Washington).

CARAVAGGIO S WORK FOR THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

1 3. The marrdom oJ tfie Knight.s of Malta at the .siege of Fort St Felmo on 23rd to 24th June 1565. Maltese, c. 1620-30. 275 by 590 cm. (Refectory, Friary of the Franciscan (onventuals, Rabat).

youth who seeks advice from a priest on how to become a chaplain in the order:

Go [the Padre said], turning towards Gabriello, when you get to Malta, into the oratory of S. Giovanni Decollato, which was painted by the greatest of all painters Michelan- gelo di Caravaggio, and you will see depicted up above many knights, some decapitated, others with their chests ripped open strapped to timbers and thrown into the sea, others languishing from wounds in several parts of their bodies. Having taken Castel S. Elmo by storm, the Turks did not hesitate to practice every sort of cruelty on the knights they had captured, including two chaplains, the Frenchman Fra Pietro de Vignerun, and the other, a Castillian, Fra Alfonzo Zambrana, who, after having fought proudly, were cut to pieces. Notwithstanding, Grand Master La Vallette, the great hero of our time, did not lose faith: indeed, he persuaded the other knights to emulate their comrades. And with a united voice they offered themselves victims to so welcome a sacrifice; and such was their valour with which they withstood the siege, that as long as there is a world they shall be remembered.33

In a marginal note to the Disavsenture, we are informed that the lunette was removed from the oratory and placed in the

manuscript copies exist in Malta, including the one (undated; ? 1 8th-century) in thc Archive of the Cathedral of Malta, Mdina (ACM Miscellanea 262) transcribed by Azzopardi. For more on Cagliola, see v. BORG in his note identifying thc lunettc: Fabio CXhigi, Apostolic Delegate in Malta (1634-1639), Studi e Westi 249, Rome [1967], pp.414 16; AOM 6430 'Cariche di Convento'; and notes 48-49 below. $$NML, Lib. MS 654, pp.46-47: ' Va, rivolto a (Wabriello, quando giungerai in Malta, nel- I'Oratorio di S. Cio. decollato, che fu dipinto dalla cima de pittori Michelangelo di Cwaravaggio, e vedrai di .sopra effigiati molti C8av.ti, alcuni decapitati, altri con il peuo aperto auaccati su travi, e buuati nel mare, altri languireferiti in piu parti del corpo; che i Turchi, preso il Cwastello di S. Elmo a vivaforza, non lasciarono sorte di crudelta, che con i presi Cav.2t non osassero, e due CwapEpella] ni, I'uno Fr. Pietro de Vignerunfrancese, e l'altro, CXastigliano Fr. A0onzo Zambrana, dopofieram.' bauuti, in pezzi li divisero; ne percio il Cran Maestro La Valleua, heroe degn.tt° de suoi tempi si perse d'animo: anzi persuadendo gl'altri C8av.t ad emular i compagni, ad una voce .s 'offersero vitti- ma a sacrficio sigrato; efu tale il valore, con che .so.vtennero l'as.vedio, che in.sin che ci sara mondo se ne dorra aver memoria . . .' Translations, here and elsewhere, are by thc author.

desperation is understandable. On the boat in the middle of the background, one oftheir former cellmates is receiving the standard punishment for murder. Sewn live into a sack, the knight is being thrown overboard.i"

The statute-books and the legal commentaries written by such knights as Osterhausen provide the single richest source for understanding the culture Caravaggio experienced dur- ing his fifteen months in Malta. Their illustrations constitut- ed a shared visual vocabulary for the order's legions scattered across Europe, the Middle East, and the New World.3'

Not only does the image of the Squardio commissioned by Osterhausen (Fig.9) alert us to an important function of Car- avaggio's painting we might well have overlooked, it also reveals a completely unsuspected feature of the pre-Pretian oratory. Above the Beheading is a large lunette painting about which the literature on Caravaggio and the Conventual Church has been totally silent. That the lunette Kilian recorded actually did hang above Caravaggio's painting can be confirmed from an obscure novella of 1650 written by the Maltese theologian, Fra Fabrizio Cagliola, Lz Disavrenture Marznaresche o sia Gabraello Disavrenturato, which also describes the work's surprising subject matter, drawn from the Great Siege of Malta in 1565.32 The relevant passage comes in the middle of Cagliola's witty morality lesson about Gabriello, a

4"F})r an cxamplc of such punishments, see the 'Annals' of 1577 in VERTOT, Op. Cit. at notc 1 ahove, II: 14, p.52: 'Thc chevalier Correa, a portuguese, is assassinated by six other knights . . . the secular judgc condemns them to be sown up in a sack, and thrown into thc sca.' (:. SANDYS: 58andy.s Travailes. A Relation of affourney begun An. Dom. 1610, 5th ed., I,ondon [1652], pp.l79-80, notes a slightly different method of exe- cution: 'If one of them hc convicted of a capitall crime, he is first publikely disgrad- ed in the CMhurch of Saint iohn, where he received his Knight-hood; then strangled, and thrown aftcr into the sea in the night-time.' -$'For thc statutes, see M. BARBARO DI SAN GIORGIO: 551toria della costituzione del Sorrano Mil- itare OrdinediMalta, Rome [1927]; and B. WALDSTEIN-WARTENBERG: Rechtsgeschichtedes Malte.verorden.s, Vienna and Munich [1968]. 52AZZOPARDI, loc. cit. at notc 20 above, p.203 and note 44. My transcriptions are from NMI,, I,ib. MS 654, available in a published edition (with some minor errors) as F.

('AGLIOLA: Le Di.savrenture Marinare.sche o sia (Wabriello Disavrenturato, Malta Leueraria, Val- letta [1929] . The title pagc of MS 654 is dated: MDCXL, but the handwriting appears to bc latc seventcenth-century, and marginalia refer to events after 1692. Other

166

CARAVAGGIO S WORK FOR THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

after the Siege, during the building and decoration of the Conventual Church and its oratory. As such, it provides an indispensable key to interpreting the function and meaning of the Beheading.

The work of an unidentified (?Maltese) artist working in c.1620-30,35 the ruined canvas depicts the martyrdom of members of the order during the capture of the Fort of St Elmo by the Turks at the height of the siege.36 In the upper zone, the Madonna, Child, and StJohn the Baptist rest on clouds while angels sprinkle palms over the martyred knights on the battlefield.John clutches the standard ofthe order and intercedes on behalf of his proteges below. The link here between the knights and their patron saint is especially poignant, since the massacre occurred on the feast ofthe Bap- tist's nativity, 24thJune, one of the two most holy days, along with the decollation on 29th August, of the knights' calendar.

In contrast to the serenity ofthe upper area, the lower reg- ister reads like a wave of death and destruction. Hagiograph- ic and naturalistic in its approach to commemorating the 120 knights who died in the massacre,37 the lunette contains hor- rifying, historically accurate scenes calculated to move even the most obdurate to piety. In the lower left are two particu- larly tragic figures. Both have been hanged. Stripped of his uniform, the soldier at the extreme left has a cross incised on his chest. This mutilation was a message. As we learn from the order's official historian Giacomo Bosio (1602):38 'All the cadavers which by their clothing could be recognised as knights or men of importance were gathered up; and it was ordered that they be stripped nude, decapitated, and that their hands be severed. Then, out of disrespect for the Holy Cross and to make sport of the knights' military overgar- ments, on each corpse four huge incisions were made with scimitars, making the sign ofthe Cross on both the fronts and backs. . . '.39

Depicted in the centre of the canvas is another legendary demonstration of knightly sacrifice.Just under the Madonna is a group of naked bodies, now obscured by varnish, floating belly-up in the Grand Harbour. The episode was previously memorialised in Matteo Perez da Lecce's Great Siege cycle of the late 1570s in the Grand Master's Palace and in his subse- quent engravings ofthe murals in 1582.4" The flotilla of head- less corpses (Fig.14),4' was also described by Bosio: 'And after having had them lashed to various pieces of wood with their

AZZOPARDI and D.M. STONE: 'Above Caravaggio: The Massacre of the knights at Fort St Elmo', Treasures of Malta, III, no. 1 [1996], pp.61-66. 37For an account of the thousands of Maltese and Turkish casualties, see E. BRAD-

FORD: The Creat Siege: Malta 1565, London [1964], p. l 37; and SIRE, op. cit. at note 1 above, pp.68-72. 38G. BOSIO: Dell'Istoria della Sacra Religione . . ., 3 vols., Rome [1594 1602], second ed. (ofvol.III only), Naples [1684]. For Bosio see: A. LUTTRELL: 'The Hospitallers' His- torical Activities: 1530-1630', Annales de l'Ordre Souverain Militaire de Malte, XXVI, no.3-4 [1 968], pp.57-69; reprinted in idem: Latin Creece, the fIospitallers and the Cwrusades 1291-1440, London [1982]. See also P. FALCONE: 'I1 valore documentario della Sto- ria dell'Ordine Gerosolimitano di Giacomo Bosio', Archivio Storico di Malta, Anno X, Fasc.II [1939], pp.93-135. Such was the diplomatic prestige of the knights that Gia- como and his brother received a papal pardon after they assassinated the brother of the Viceroy of Calabria at the Vatican Palace on 30thJune 1581. 3"'Perciochefacendo pigliar tutti i Cadaveri, che dalle vesti si conobbero essere Cavalieri, od ffuo- mini segnalati; ordino, che spogliati nudi, glifossero troncati i capi, e le mani. Indi in dispregio della santa Croce, e in ischerno delle Militari sopravesti di quei Cavalieri; glifecefare con le scimitarre ne' petti, e nelle schiene, quattro fessure grandissime per ciascuno in modo di croce. . .', BOSIO, op. cit. above, III, p.S74. 8'For the frescoes, see J. ELLUL: 1565. The Creat Siege of Malta, Malta [1992], esp. p.38. For the engravings, see G. MORELLO: Memorie Melitensi nelle collezioni della Biblioteca Apos- tolica Vaticana, exh. cat., Rome [1987], p.S2 under no.62. tIA.F. LUCINI: Disegni della Cuerra, Assedio et Assalti . . ., Bologna [1631], a copy, with minor changes, based on Da Lecce's rare edition (Rome [1582]). 'A' is Fort St Ange- lo at the tip of Birgu (called Vittoriosa after the Siege), where Caravaggio was impris- oned.

167

14. Detail of the Capture of Fort St Elmo, showing the Raft of cadavers, by Anton Francesco Lucini, after Matteo Perez da Lecce. Engraving

refectory of the Friary of the Franciscan Conventuals at Rabat, where it still hangs (Fig. 13).34

Though the lunette was painted a decade or two after Car- avaggio's Beheading, the socio-religious context that produced it was already fully developed before Caravaggio's novitiate of 1607-08. The lunette, therefore, is a primary document for understanding the mentality of his patrons in the period

$"Il quadro qui citato si trova oggi di nel refetorio de PP Francescani convent.'i del Rabato in Citta Aotabile' (NML, Lib. MS 654, p.46). Rabat is the town adjoining Mdina ('Citta Aota- bile') about 12 kilometres from Valletta. $Certain heads and bodies resemble the work of the Maltese painter Bartolomeo Garagona (1584- 1641), author of a signed and dated Deposition of 1627 in Mdina Cathedral; see BUHAGIAR, op. cit. at note 12 above, fig4.17, p.81. In mid- 1612, he was commissioned to produce a (:rucfiJixion with the Virgin and St jKohn the Evangelist within one month for an unspecified location in the oratory. According to CUTAJAR, loc. cit. at note 2 above, p. l 0, who found the still unpublished documents, this picture was rejected when the artist failed to meet the deadline. InJanuary 1613, the painter sued the Commissari dell'Oratorio for his labour plus expenses, which included ten metres of canvas. Still, I cannot concur with Cutajar, who says that there can be 'lit- tle doubt' that Garagona's Cwrucfixion was ordered to replace the Beheading. The width of Garagona's canvas is unknown; thus, as Cutajar himself notes, we cannot be sure ofthe Cwrucfixion's intended dimensions. Moreover, given the short deadline, the com- mission may have been for a temporary installation. Finally, Cutajar's hypothesis that a period of damnatio auctoris ensued after Caravaggio's expulsion is contradicted by BENARD (see note 22 above), who saw the 'souscription' in 1616, thus providing evi- dence not only that Caravaggio's innovative signature is original (which conserva- tors have verified; see CARITA, loc. cit. at note 7 above, p.61, figs.53-55), but also that the knights did not cover it up. The fact that in 1650 CAGLIOLA (see note 32 above) calls Caravaggio the 'cima de pittori' shows that the artist's reputation was still intact after Benard's visit. $'iThe lunette (oil on canvas; 275 by 590 cm.) is missing about five cm. from each side and perhaps a little from the top and bottom. At c.600 cm. wide, it would have fit- ted within the archivolt on the oratory's east wall. For further reproductions, see J.

CARAVAGGIO S WORK FOR THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

arms spread apart so as to form, similarly, the sign of the Cross, and bound in such a manner as to make one body tow the other in a kind of long chain, they were then tossed into the sea. The water, it was thought, would carry them and this truly horrible spectacle over to our brethren at Birgu, and it in fact did so'.1' The Turks' intention, as an eyewitness, Francesco Balbi di Correggio (1567), noted, was to terrify the knights into surrendering'$ The plan backfired. After seeing the raft of cadavers, Grand Master La Vallette retaliated by having the Turkish prisoners decapitated and their heads shot from cannons over to Fort St Elmo.tt

Intermingled with these historical references are pointed allusions to Christian martyrdoms. In the upper left, three men tied to a tree have been shot with arrows, a la St Sebast- ian. On the right, evoking the martyrdom of St Peter, anoth- er knight is crucified upside down. In the lower right, just to the left ofthe officer bordering the canvas, an older man, bald with heavy eyebrows, has received a gash in his pate resem- bling the wound of St Peter Martyr. The myriad decapita- tions, of course, recall the titular of the oratory, the knights' patron saint. One head in particular (Fig.15), behind the shield just to the right of centre, seems intentionally to echo - if not compete with - Caravaggio's rendering of the Baptist in the Beheading directly below. l ) The martyrial aspect of the painting is made explicit in a Latin inscription added at the end ofthe century to the bottom ofthe canvas: 'In the year of our Lord 1692 in the month of March was placed here this memorial vividly representing how the illustrious soldiers of Christ, girded with the armour of faith, protected with the shield and helmet of piety, suffered during the siege of this island of Malta. And so much bloodshed and so many types of martyrdoms did they endure, through which they brought glory to the order and, with their heads, earned crowns of immortality.' i

Seeing this gory image in exile at Rabat, where it was installed in 1692, reveals how much it was conceived for a different setting. Hardly appropriate for a refectory, the lunette cannot be understood in any context but the oratory, where the knights attempted to transform the brash, sword- toting youths of Europe's nobility into a unified corps of god-fearing Christian soldiers. The Martyrdom of the Enights of Malta was a perfect tool for training the novices, who, like Caravaggio in 1607-08, spent a full year 'in convento' before receiving the Cross.'7

12BOSlO, Op. cit. at notc 38 at)ove, III, p.574: 'Efatti havendogli legare sopra certi legni con le braccia aperte, e .stese similmente in modo di Cwror.e; in maniera attaccati, che l'uno rimorchiava l'al- tro in lunga iliera; gettar gli fece in Mare. Percioche giudico, che la maretta portati gli haverebbe, come in ef3nettofece, a mostrar cosi horrendo .spettacolo a' no.stri del Borgo.'

$F. BAl,BI DE (8ORRF,(X(;10: I a Verdadera Relacidn . . ., 2nd ed., Barcelona [1568] (orig. ed. [ 1567]). Sec idem: The KSiege of Malta 1565, tr. and abridged by E. BRADFORD, London [1965], p.953. "See VERTO'r, op. cit. at noto 1 at)ove II: 12, p.220. See also BRADFORD, op. cit. at note 37 above, p. 140; and SIRE, op. cit. at noto 1 at)ove pp.68-72. '-Thc fact that this hcad so cvidently reflccts Caravaggio's style should put to rest any speculation that the lunottc might have preceded the Beheading. IX ANNO DOMINI 1692. DE MENSE MARTIO COLLOCATVM FVIT HIC MEMORIALE HOC IN

VIWM REPRAESF,NTANS QVAI,ITER INCLITI XPI / MILITES IN OBSIDIONE HVIVS INSVLAE

MELITAE FIDEI l ()RI(8A PRAEF IN(TI, S(sVTO, ET CALEA PIETATIS ARMATI PASSI SINT; /

QVOTQUE (8AEDES, MARTYRIORVMQUE GENEE PERPESSI, QVIBUS RELIGIONEM LVS- TRAVERVNA, ( APITIBVSQVE SVIS ( ORONAM / IMMORTALITATIS MERVERVNT . The inscrip- tion (with minor crrors) is recorded in: A. FERRIS: Memorie dell'inslito Ordine GJero.solimitano e.si.stenti nelle i.sole di Malta, Malta [ 1881 ], p. 1 76. '/For C>aravaggio s novitiatc, see ( IJTAJAR, p.7; and AZZOPARDI, pp. 19-56 (both cited at notc 2 above). "'C>agliola's conccrn for cducation was fanatical. In his Elogio al Ctommendatore Fra Rinaldo Bech I,a Bui.s:sere . . ., Malta [1647] (NML, Lib. Misecllanea 243), he chides the order for their lenicncy in training the novices (pp. 10-1 1). In the 'Istruzione a Fr. CMappellani (Jcrosolimitani . . .' (S.M.C).M., Rome: MS 31), his exhaustive manu-

168

15. Detail of Fig. 13.

Cagliola, a mirror of the knights' religiosity, seems to revel in the pedagogical possibilities ofthe lunette.4'$ In the passage quoted above, he uses the painting's shocking imagery to inspire awe, faith, and heroism in the young Gabriello.4!'The oratory was built exactly for such lessons and the lunette was designed to give them memorable, even mnemonic form. One can well imagine the youths of the order contemplating the two works on the altar wall while hearing lectures about how their ancestors earned 'crowns of immortality' with their heads. The impact of such sermons was doubled by the siting of the oratory above the original camposanto dedicated to the victims of the Siege. The cemetery, which still exists in its reduced form, bears a large plaque with the names of the knights who died in the conflict. Since the original entrance to the oratory was not through the main church but through the camposanto, the novices literally had to march over the bones of the martyrs of 1565 before each lesson.<)" Masses in the oratory, appropriately enough, were frequently devoted to the 'cavalieri defunti'.

The oratory itself, moreover, was a martyrium. The Bar- tolotti crypt, built below the hall in 1603,=" immediately became the burial ground for the order's latest 'martyrs' - as all deceased brothers, whether they died of old age or in battle, were unfailingly called in the knights' propagandistic literature.5)2 The sumptuously engraved necrology, Lz Martyrologe des Chevaliers de S. ean de Hierusalem,=)$ is a typical

script of 1647, he prepares chaplains for every contingency, including fifteen differ- ent cases where mass might be interrupted; e.g., no.8: 'What to do if a spider drops into the consecrated wine' (pp.346-47). "'It is telling that he chose a picture and not a text to recount the siege. It was also he who presented Preti's petition for the title of Cavalier di Grazia in 1659. See v. MARI-

ANI: Mattia Preti a Malta, Rome [1929], p.89. Preti, Cavaliere d'Obbedienza since 1642, received the new rank in 1661; see J.T. SPIKE: 'Mattia Preti's Pictorial CCareer', in Mattia Preti, ed. E. CORACE, Rome [1989], pp. l 5-50, esp. p.30. ;"Dominic Cutajar kindly informs me that there was no door in the west wall before the eighteenth century. Although I have not seen corroborating documents, there is no question that in the early Seicento the oratory's main entrance was from the cemetery, since the west wall was blocked by the Chapol of St Charles (later moved to the left of the high altar). See SCICLUNA, op. sit. at note 3 above, p. l l 8. ;'The crypt is named after Don Giovanni Bertolotti, a Bolognese theologian, who served as Master of the novices and as Wignacourt's confessor, and who kept his office next to the crypt. ;2'01d' martyrs may have been under the oratory, too, since it is probable that some of the bones removed from the cemetery to make way for the new hall were rein- terred in the crypt. For the crypt's three sub-subterranean chambers, one each for the 'Cappellani-Maggiori', the knights, and the novices, see SCICLUNA, pp. 171 --74, figs. 241-45, and CUTAJAR, p. 100 (both cited at note 3 above). Only the grand mas- ters were buried elsewhere (in a crypt under the high altar). ;4M. DE COUSSANCOURT: LeMaryrologe . . ., 2 vols., Paris [1643]; second ed. [1654].

CARAVAGGIO S WORK FOR THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

1 6,. IV)ctail of Fi,.7.

example of the martyrial self-image the Sacra Religione pro- mulgated in the early Seicento.

In this charged environment, from the moment of its unveiling, Caravaggio's portrayal of the brutal decapitation of the knights' patron saint would have been regarded as an image of 'the first fallen knight' ofthe order. During the mass, the blood pooling beneathJohn's partially severed head, fresh enough to serve for Caravaggio's brotherhood-affirming sig- nature 'Fra Michelangelo' (Figl6), would have echoed the blood of the Saviour on the altar directly below. )4John, the 'santo precursore', is portrayed as a sacrificial lamb slaughtered for his faith. He prepares the way for Christ and the eucharist, and, in this special context, for the order and its martyrs as well. With the later installation of the lunette painting, the entire wall became a marytyrology cycle dedi- cated both to the spiritual 'founder' and to the knights who sacrificed their lives at the siege.))

Given the didactic, memorial, and ceremonial value ofthe lunette and the meaningful way it worked in symbiosis with Caravaggio's Beheading, its removal from the oratory was cer- tainly not casual. Documents have not yet surfaced to explain the circumstances or the date of the decision, though surely the Venerando Consiglio would have deliberated on such a question. The year of the inscription, 1692, and the fact that the picture needed a complete restoration before it could be displayed at Rabat, are the only clues we have concerning this issue.)i

''I'hc sizc and plae cmcnt of'Prcti's new altar spoil thc original effect, which was com- parahlc to that achi(ved ill (jaravaggio's ,ntombment (Pinacoteca Vaticana). For the Entombment, sec ilIBBARD, op. cit at note 6 abovc, p. 174. > >ln April 1995, 1 presented several of' these observations at 'Amor Vincit Omnia? Sciccllto Images of Passioll and Power', a symposium organized by Ann Sutherland Harris at thc Fri(k Art alld Historical CCentcr, Pittsburgh. The paper, 'Signed in Blood: (aravaggio's Belleading of blt Xohn the Bapti.st and the Knights of Malta', is being

The date of the lunette's installation in the refectory coin- cides so perfectly with Preti's activities in the oratory that one suspects he was involved in its removal. His excuse may have been the bad condition of the canvas, but Preti would surely have regarded the lunette as an outmoded version of Counter-Reformational martyrdom cycles. His transforma- tion ofthe Conventual Church from an austere structure into one of the most ornate interiors of the high baroque, speaks volumes about how he would have viewed such a provincial painting.t7 Moreover, the tastes of Preti's fellow knights had changed considerably since the days of Caravaggio, when the young survivors of the massacre at Fort St Elmo were senior members of the order. Nobility, wealth, and charity - rather than bloody martyrdom - were now the guiding principles of the brotherhood. With the Turks no longer a threat, the knights' image as warriors was all but discarded.

The lunette may also have been felt to conflict with the new iconographical scheme introduced into the hall by Preti, which concentrated on the Passion of Christ. In 1661-66, Preti frescoed the entire vault of the nave of the main church with scenes from the life of StJohn; it made no sense now, despite the appropriateness of the theme, to repeat himself in the oratory. By contrast, no major cycle dedicated to Christ's Passion existed in StJohn's, a lacuna Preti seized upon. His three canvas quadri riportati on the ceiling - an Ecce Homo, a Christ Crowned with Thorns, and a Raising of the Cross - and the two frescoes on the vault over the east end - Christ at

revised for publication. ;'iFor the documents relating to the lunette's restoration by the Maltesc painter Fra Pietro Erardi, see AZZOPARDI, loc. cit. at noto 20 above, note 44; and AZZOPARDI and STONE, loc. cit. at note 36 above, p.65 and note 6. >7For Preti's decoration of the church, see SPIKE, loc. cit. at notc 49 abovc; alld (iUasA-

JAR, op. cit. at note 3 above.

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C A RAVA G G I O S W O R K F O R T H E K N I G H T S O F M A LTA

18. Madonna dei sette dolori, perhaps from designs hy Mattia Preti. c. 1685. Wood and gilding. (()ratory of S. (Jiovanlli l)ccollato, Co- Cathedral of StJohn, Valletta).

17. Prc-1958 photograph of the oratory, showing the ('ruciixion with the Virgir d Stiohn the Fvangeli.st, hy an unknown ltalian sculptor.

bronze relief tondo of the beheading ofJohn the Baptist for the front panel of the altar thus making Caravaggio's iconog- raphy redundant. While, in theory, Ferris contributions drew attention to the oratory's titular saint, they ultimately made Preti's altar and the Cruciixion all the more dominant.iS

The new lunette of the Madonna addolorata (Fig 18), grieving neither for Caravaggio's StJohn nor for the Martyrs of the Siege but for her tormented and crucified son, effectively ties the altar wall to the Crucgxion and the other Passion scenes. These iconographical additions, typical of the 'Ecclesia tn- umphans' zeal of the late Seicento, enhancedJohn's role as Santo Precursore in the Beheading, but the removal of the Martr- dom lunette diminished his stature as the order's first fallen comrade. Caravaggio's Beheading of Stiohn, since 1653 literal- ly in the shadows of the cruG0xion was thus - iconographi- cally speaking - stripped of its knighthood.

Universit of Delaware

repr. on p.8 1. 'i'Before 1689, the reliquary was kept in another ehapel; see S( It IjUNA, p. l42 and fig. 170; and CUTAJAR, pp. 65, 105 (both cited at note 3 above). Thus, in his discussion of the construction of the oratory, Scicluna (p. 139) is incorrect in stating that 'at the time of the oratory's inception the right hand of St John the Baptist could be seen through the oriels of the double door and be venerated even when thc oratory was closed'. 'i2For Ferri's designs (the monstrance is now in the Museum of StJohn's), sec H.-W.

KRUFT: A Reliquary by Ciro Ferri in Malta, THE BIJRLIN(,TON MAS,AZINE, (XII [1970], pp.692-95. For the medieval reliquary, see P. PA(8IAUDI: De zultu S. iohnnnis BaptiotaeAntiquitates Christianae . . ., Rome [1755], p.324; and The Order's E,arly lw.gasy inMalta, ed.J. AZZOPARDI, Malta [1989], pp.70-71.

the Cwolumn on the left and the Agony in the Garden on the right - combine forces to shift the emphasis away from the oratory's titular. 4;

Included in the scheme, and probably its point of depar- ture, was the near-life-size statue group of the CrucSxion with the Virgin and St jKohn the Evangelist that had occupied a modest altar at the oratory's east end since its donation in 1653.;9 For nearly three centuries until 1958 the Cwruciixion stood atop the enormous new altar Preti designed especially for it (Fig.17).i" With the five paintings of Christ's Passion, the group sculpture became the grand finale of the Pretian cycle, and in a sense the oratory's true 'altar-piece'. This effect was assisted by the weighty gilt-bronze monstrance Ciro Ferri designed to contain the famous thirteenth-century reliquary of the hand of StJohn the Baptist.ii On 5th December 1689, the monstrance was placed on the altar under the Crucifix, thus blocking the Beheading even more. Ferri also designed a

;4'S(8I( LUNA, figs. 172 - 77; and (:UTAJAR, p.90 (both cited at note 3 above). Preti also designed pictures for the side walls, including those of the presbytery, based on a pre- existing ( y( k presumably of the 1 620s dedicated to the saints of the order. The old cycle is dispersed, though many copies exist in Maltese collections, including the (Collegio wigllacourt Museum, Rabat. As I recently discovered, the Blessed Cerard rnini.sterang to the .sick in the 5racra Inferrneria is engraved (on p.5) in F. TRUGLIO: Lz imagini de' Beati, e 51n?lti della XSXaem Religio?le . . ., Palermo [1633J; orig. ed., Rome [1622J. Truglio (p. 10) notes the work's presence in the oratory. For illustrations of the new cycle by Preti's workshop see S(sI(sI UNA, op. cit. at note 3 above, figs. 178-87. ; 'For the group, implausibly attributed to Alessandro Algardi, see SCICLUNA,

pp. 141- 42, fig. 168; and ( UTAJAR, p.80 (both cited at note 3 above). '"It is now in the passageway to the sacristy of the main church. See CUTAJAR, ibid.,

170