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Vol.
The Late Medieval Art & Architecture of the Maltese Islands
Mario Buhagiar
In The Late Medieval Art and Architecture of the Maltese Islands, the author presents us with ‘a comprehensive point of departure for the study of artistic developments in the Late Middle Ages, from the Norman Conquest at the turn of the twelfth century to the coming of the Knights in 1530’. This book shows us that Late Medieval Malta was not an artistic desert, that patronage in Mdina was surprisingly well-informed, and that the Renaissance reached Malta before the coming of the Knights. Architecture, however, lagged behind, and the stylistic and technical innovations ‘reflected the conservatism of an insular society’.
Through the art and architecture of that period, Professor Buhagiar outlines the ‘Christianization and Latinization process that moved the islands away from a Muslim and North African bias, to a South European sphere of influence’. The author’s many years of meticulous research and academic activity have resulted in an excellently presented book that can be enjoyed by both the academic and the general reader.
CONTENTS
The First Beginnings - Early Christian to Early Medieval
The Re-Christianization and Latinization of Malta
The Countryside - Cave-Dwellings and Drystone Constructions
The Siculo-Greek Monasticism and Rock-Cut Churches
The Built Churches
The Late Medieval Town House
The Cathedral Church
The Mendicant Friars and the Cloistered Nuns
Parish and Countryside Churches in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries
Painting and Sculpture - The Catalan and Sicilian Connection
