Giuseppe Calì
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Giuseppe Calì (14 August 1846 – 1 March 1930) was a Maltese painter of
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
descent.


Biography

Born in
Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...
, Calì was baptised at the Dominican Parish Church of Porto Salvo, one of the seven offsprings of the artist and musician Raffaele Calì, set designer at the Royal Theatre,Dominic Cutajar
"The 19th Cent. Realism of Giuseppe Calì (1846-1930) - an artistic sway that lasted 50 years"
in: ''Giuseppe Calì'', edit. Edwin A. Camilleri, pub. Malta 1991
and of mezzosoprano Giovanna Padiglione.
/ref> His parents, who were from Naples, had moved to British Malta in 1840.Michelle Marie Galea
Giuseppe Calì’s Private Works – The Man And Artist
''weconnect''
At age 19, in 1865, thanks to the generosity of the merchant William Stephen Eynaud, Calì moved to
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
to further his artistic formation at the Accademia di Belle Arti, where he studied under neoclassicist Giuseppe Mancinelli (1812-1875). Rather than following Mancinelli's style, the young Calì was attracted by the anti-academic
Domenico Morelli Domenico Morelli (4 August 182313 August 1901) was an Italians, Italian painter, who mainly produced historical and religious works. Morelli was immensely influential in the arts of the second half of the 19th century, both as director of the Ac ...
(1826-1901), a follower of the
Verismo In opera, , from , meaning 'true', was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an operatic ge ...
movement. In Naples, Calì also grew closer to Romanticism and to the Italian
Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...
. He made return to Valletta two years later, in 1867, summoned by his terrified parents who were told that their son planned to join Garibaldi in his latest attempt to overthrow the Papal States. His first major work, ''The Death of Dragut'' from 1867, is still deemed a masterpiece; it was purchased by the government and placed on permanent display in the armory of the Grandmaster's Palace, Valletta - then later at the Museum of Fine Arts, today's MUŻA.Newsbook
/ref> The influences of both Mancinelli and Morelli are visible in the ''Death of Dragut'' and in other works of his early period. Calì's art soon found wide acceptance in Malta, where he got employed in decorating private houses with landscapes and portraits. Only after 1870 Calì started to accept Church commissions. In 1881 he pained St. Jerome at the Sacro Cuor Church in Sliema, also deemed among his major works. Calì married Perennia Pace from Senglea in 1871, with whom had 11 children. In order to sustain the family, he got employed as art teacher at the Lyceum. As an established authority in the artistic scene in the island, Calì started to grow his own school, favouring the style of
Verismo In opera, , from , meaning 'true', was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an operatic ge ...
over the rampant Neo-Classicism and academicism. Among his students were his son Ramiro Raffaele Calì, Raphael Bonnici Calì, Gianni Vella and Ignatio Cefai. He died in Valletta and was commemorated by the Republic of Malta with a series of four postage stamps in 1996, and a coin in 2004. His son Ramiro Calì was also a painter. A bust of him is located behind the Malta Stock Exchange in the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta.


Works

Giuseppe Calì was a very prolific artist, almost every major church in Malta prides itself on his work. He worked very quickly, and according to one of his grandsons he was called ''ix-xitan tal-pinzell'' ("devil of the brush"). His performance was enormous; during his lifetime he made more than 600 different compositions (according to some sources - about 2,000) consisting of an impressive variety of paintings, drawings, bozzetti, portraits and decorations of church vaults, as well as a number of sculptures and lithography. Unfortunately, many of them were lost during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, such as the crucifixion in the Stella Maris church in Sliema. The influence of Romanticism, which the artist became acquainted with in Naples, is evident in most of his early works, such as the painting of the altar of the parish church in Mosta, ''Our Lady of the Rosary'' (1870), his first work for churches after his return from Italy, and the ''Saint Lawrence'' (1881) and ''Saint Jerome'' (1882) in the ''Sacro Cuor'' church in Sliema. The latter is widely recognized as a masterpiece of the genre. This style is also visible in the works from 1885: ''Saint Joseph with Child'' for the parish church of St. Cajetan in Ħamrun and the ''Martyrdom of St. Demetrius'' for the parish church of Maria Bambina in Senglea. Calì has also done several works in collaboration with artist Carlo Ignazio Cortis, including for the Parish Church of St. Lawrence in Birgu and the Church of the Savior in Lija. At the end of the 19th century, he also worked on some side paintings, such as the one for the Church of the Annunciation in Tarxien, and the painting of Saint Dominic for the Porto Salvo parish church in Valletta, where he was baptized. Calì has worked on many private home decoration assignments, including a series of four putti entitled ''The Four Seasons'' in the entrance hall of Villa Alhambra in Sliema, property of the architect
Emanuele Luigi Galizia Emanuele Luigi Galizia (7 November 1830 – 6 May 1907) was a Crown Colony of Malta, Maltese architect and civil engineer, who designed many public buildings and several churches. He is regarded as "the principal Maltese architect throughout the ...
. He also had a great influence on Maltese society, he painted about fifty portraits of famous people in Malta. This should include the portraits of Cardinal Lavigerie (1884), Cardinal Logue (1886), as well as Governor Richard More O'Ferrall, Marquis Emanuele Scicluna, Giovanni Battista Schembri, Achille Camilleri, Edward V. Ferro, Sir
Victor Houlton The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
, Judge Sir Adrian Dingli, Rector of University Napoleone Tagliaferro,
Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...
, Judge Paolo Debono, Count and Countess of Messina, and Lord and Lady Strickland.


List of works

The proscenium arch of the Teatru Salesjan in
Sliema Sliema ( ) is a town located on the northeast coast of Malta in the Districts of Malta#Northern Harbour District, Northern Harbour District. It is a major residential and commercial area and a centre for shopping, bars, dining, and café life. ...
, Malta was decorated in 1910 with the reminiscent oil on stone painting entitled The Virtues of Mankind. The painting is surrounded by rich bas-relief, pre-art deco stucco decorations full of symbolism. * Death of Dragut (oil on canvas, 1867), widely considered his best work, now in the National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta *St Jerome and St Lawrence altarpieces (oil on canvas, 1881), Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish Church (''Sacro Cuore''), Sliema *Virgin of the Rosary (his first work), and Prophets, and episodes from the life of Christ in the parish church of Mosta. *St. Dominic altarpiece, Basilica of St Dominic, Valletta (''Porto Salvo'') *portraits of the merchant Agostino Cassar Torregiani and of Judge Carbone *Tre Rome (1911) *Nativity of Jesus Christ, St Andrew's Parish Church, Luqa *Saint Dominic, St Andrew's Parish Church, Luqa *Saint Michael, St Andrew's Parish Church, Luqa *Sacred Heart of Jesus (destroyed during World War II), St Andrew's Parish Church, Luqa *Our Lady of the Rosary, St Andrew's Parish Church, Luqa *Saint Paul and Saint Catherine V.M., St Andrew's Parish Church, Luqa *Apotheosis of St. Francis, St Francis of Assisi Church, Valletta *The Sacred Heart of Jesus, Fontana parish church, Fontana, Gozo *The Assumption of Mary, Parish Church of the Assumption, Qrendi *St. Lawrence Martyr,
San Lawrenz San Lawrenz is an administrative unit of Malta, on the island of Gozo. Its name is derived from Lawrence of Rome who is the patron saint for the locality. It has a population of 748, as of March 2014. The Dwejra nature reserve is administrative ...
parish, Gozo *Main apse, minor chapel apse and St. Joseph, St Helen's Basilica,
Birkirkara Birkirkara (abbreviated as B'Kara or BKR) is a city in the Eastern Region, Malta, Eastern Region of Malta. It is the second most populous on the Malta (island), island, with 24,356 inhabitants as of 2020. The town consists of five autonomous pari ...
*The Four Seasons - four putti in the entrance hall of Villa Alhambra, Sliema * Woman carried by the sea, National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta * Untitled painting symbolising a martyrdom
Casa Rocca Piccola Casa Rocca Piccola is a 16th-century palace in Malta, and home of the noble Maltese family de Piro. It is situated in Valletta, the capital city of Malta. There are daily tours from 10am till 5pm (last admission 4pm). The palace includes a BnB w ...


Notes


Bibliography

* Dominic Cutajar, "The 19th Cent. Realism of Giuseppe Calì (1846-1930) - an artistic sway that lasted 50 years", in: ''Giuseppe Calì'', edit. Edwin A. Camilleri, pub. Malta 199

* E. Fiorentino, "Maltese art astride two centuries (1860-1921)" in V. Malta Milanes 9ed., ''The British Colonial Experience 1800-1964'', pub, Mireva Publications, Malta 1988, pp. 263–265 * R. Bonnici Calì, ''Giuseppe Calì Centenary Exhibition 1846-1946'', published Malta, 1946, p. 18. * P. Ilario Dimech OFM, ''Le Pitture di Giuseppe Calì nelle Chiese dei Frati Minori Conventuali a Malta'', pub. Malta, 1940, pp. 27–30


External links


Latest info, work, reviews, comments and biography of Maltese Artists
*Attard, Mary (2009)
"Cali-Galizia Gem threatenedWho is able and willing to preserve this piece of Maltese heritage from being lost? asks Mary Attard"
The Malta Independent ''The Malta Independent'' is a national newspaper published daily in Malta. It was started in 1992. The paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, ra ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cali, Giuseppe 1846 births 1930 deaths Artists from Valletta 20th-century Maltese painters 19th-century Maltese painters Maltese people of Italian descent Maltese artists Catholic painters