Maltese baroque sculptor, Melchiorre Gafa, celebrated at Rome Papal Basilica and at Victory Church, Valletta

On the occasion of the 350th Anniversary of the death of the baroque sculptor Melchiorre Gafa, known as Cafà in Rome, a wax bas-relief bozzetto by this artist, The Adoration of the Shepherds, is being exhibited in the Museum of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, also known as Santa Maria ad Presepium.

This Papal Basilica is the first church ever to have been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Within this Basilica is venerated the reliquary which holds the only known fragments of the sacred Cradle.

In a twinning event ‘Natalis Jesus Christi 2017, Melchiorre Gafa, A Maltese Sculptor in Baroque Rome’ organized by Din l-Art Ħelwa together with the Metropolitan Cathedral Museum Chapter of Mdina, who loaned the works of art, the anniversary is also being celebrated in Malta in the Church of Our Lady of Victory, the first church of Valletta which was dedicated by the Order of St John to the nativity of the Blessed Virgin.

At the Church of Our Lady of Victory, the twinning was inaugurated on December 1st with a talk on the life and works of Melchiorre Gafà, by Art Historian Sante Guido. Here, two other wax bozzetti by the sculptor are currently on display, ‘The Annunciation’ and ‘The Nativity’.

The initiative was also made possible with the collaboration of the Maltese Embassy in Rome and with the support of GasanMamo Insurance.

In Rome, the twinning exhibition, was inaugurated on the 13 December by Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, who as Archpriest of the Basilica hosted the event in the presence of Archbishop of Malta Charles Jude Scicluna, and the Ambassador of Malta in Italy, Vanessa Frazier.

Art historian Sante Guido with Giuseppe Mantella together with Mgr Edgar Vella curated the event in Rome which was also attended by Simone Mizzi representing Din l-Art Ħelwa. In Malta they were assisted by Pat Salomone, Communications Officer of Din l-Art Helwa.

The display of these works of art by Melchiorre Gafa, who was born in Birgu in 1635, and who died in Rome after a tragic accident at the age of 32, is intended to bring fur- ther recognition to the genius of this young artist who already by the age of 26 had attained a highly refined technical ability and had been appointed academician at the Accademia di San Luca, the most important artistic institution of Papal Rome.

The wax reliefs, presumably created as studies or bozzetti, possi- bly for eventual full-size works, found their way back to Malta with the artist’s belongings after his untimely death. They were discovered beneath layers of gesso and silver gilt within the sacristy of the Mdina Cathedral and on examination by Giuseppe Mantella and Sante Guido, were recognized as works of the sculptor whose many works are exhibited in the National Fine Arts Museum in Malta and in important museums around the world.

His largest sculptures, the Glory of the Miraculous Image of the Virgin can be admired in the Church of Santa Maria in Campitelli in Rome, his fine statue of the Charity of San Tommaso in the church of St Augustine and the Martrydom of Sant Eustachio in the Church of Sant Agnese in Rome, while his most complete work still existing is that of the Santa Rosa of Lima, created for the Church of St Domenico in Lima, Peru.

Perhaps Melchiorre Gafà is best known in Malta for having been commissioned by the Order of St John to design the glorious sculpture of the Baptism of Jesus Christ at St John’s Co-Cathedral as well as the Statue of St. Paul for St. Paul’s parish in Valletta. Because of the young sculptor’s premature death, both works were completed by Ercole Ferrata, Gafà’s teacher.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who at the time was the best known sculptor in Rome, is known to have exclaimed that ‘Il Maltese’ would surpass him in sculpture, having shown great discernment and vigour in several of his works.