Melitensia Curios William Zammit and Theresa Vella An Unknown Portrait of Nicolas Cotoner William Zammit Bartolomeo dal Pozzo’s two-volume Historia della Sacra Religione Militare di S. Giovanni Gerosolimitano detta di Malta (Verona, G. Berno, 1703 and Venice, G. Albrizzi, 1715) constitutes another landmark where published histories of the Order of St John are concerned, dovetailing neatly in-between Giacomo Bosio’s massively detailed work and Vertot’s easy-flowing but shockingly novel interpretation of the Order’s past.1 Dal Pozzo’s history was an exception in traditional Hospitaller historiography in that the author was not commissioned by the Order to chronicle its past – as in the case of both Bosio and Vertot – and the work was compiled purely on his own initiative. While even the labours of officially appointed Hospitaller historians were liable to pre-publication scrutiny and possible censorship, dal Pozzo’s initiative could hardly evade such controls. Rather predictably, it proved unsatisfactory to both the Order and to Rome, even if this never led to its formal condemnation by the latter and its inclusion in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. This treading on ice in dal Pozzo’s case was, however, to result in his work taking decades to be published following its completion. In May 1677 dal Pozzo submitted his two manuscript volumes to the Grand Master and Council for them to be considered for publication.2 In his request dal Pozzo stated that some of his friends – noting his competence in the humanities – had urged him to take up the task of continuing the Order’s history from where Bosio had left it. The author had complied with this and was thus humbly asking his Order to review his work and decide as to whether it was worthy of publication, while also expressing his willingness to carry out any changes or corrections to the text as requested. As was customary, the Order set up a commission that was entrusted with the reviewing of the work. Reporting over a year later, this unanimously advised against its publication for the time being, but to retain the manuscript history in the Order’s chancery for its possible publication in future, presumably after it had been gone through and edited to the Order’s satisfaction. Far from berating dal Pozzo’s initiative, the Grand Master and the Order’s Council approved the donation of a valuable gift to the author as a sign of appreciation.3 The manuscript volumes were thus to remain unpublished and gathering dust in the Order’s chancery until the work had been revised to the satisfaction of the Fig. 1 The Nicolas Cotoner frontispiece drawing in the first manuscript volume of dal Pozzo’s history. 79 · Treasures of Malta 67, Christmas 2016 Cotoner which has been hitherto undocumented and overlooked in studies on the iconographical representations of Grand Masters. The drawing measures 360 by 255mm, with the portrait being surmounted on a rectangular pedestal, with an inscription in Latin, translated as follows: ‘One who is able to represent the human aspect, not the soul, refers to no hero, or to the small achievements of the Grand Master: written history, except for the secrets of the mind, neither escapes the eyes of Cotoner, nor does it run out of hand.’6 Cotoner’s facial features are strikingly similar to those featured in the engraving of the Grand Master included in the 1676 edition of the Order’s Statutes and also in the monumental bronze bust of Cotoner set up on the main gate leading into Cottonera. This bust, the work of an artist from Messina, was in place by December 1673.7 The printed version of dal Pozzo’s history was eventually to be issued without any embellishments in the form of engraved portraits or any other decoration. It is likely that this was, at least in part, due to the fact that the work was not an officially commissioned one. An Artistic Evaluation of the Drawing Theresa Vella Fig. 2 The Cotoner engraving from the 1676 edition of the Statutes. Order. The history eventually came out years later in two volumes, with the first being published in 1703 and covering the period 1571 to 1636. The printing of the first volume is known to have taken place without the Order’s go-ahead and it was accepted somewhat grudgingly as a fait accompli.4 The second volume only saw light in 1715 and proceeded with the Hospitaller post-Bosio chronology up to 1688. In May 1693 the Order sent an officially sanctioned account of its participation, together with the Venetians, in the campaigns against the Turks during the mid-1680s for it to be added to dal Pozzo’s proposed second volume.5 The survival of the manuscript volumes of dal Pozzo to some extent enables a comparative study of the manuscript and printed version of the work. Beyond that, however, the first manuscript volume has been found to contain a most impressive frontispiece drawing of Grand Master Nicolas 80 · Treasures of Malta 67, Christmas 2016 The drawing represents a bust of Grand Master Nicolas Cotoner in magistral garb and headgear, atop a circular socle and square pedestal, while drapery frames the background to the sculpture. The pedestal is inscribed in brown ink, and is flanked on both sides by a sculpted profile of a faun above floral decorations. The picture is executed over an underlying drawing in brown ink, and finished in a monochrome wash of blue-grey ink. The ink drawing is realized in a confident hand, while the overlying brushwork is similarly well-applied, if heavily in parts. The modest colour range may be intentionally suggestive of the monochromatic nature of sculpture, whether in marble or bronze. However, in this instance it is mainly indicative of intent to print the image by means of engraving. This is also suggested by the hatching in ink which adds definition to the Grand Master’s face. Curiously, red wash is also applied to the sitter’s lips and inner eyelids, possibly in an attempt to impart life-likeness to the ‘sculpture’. The technique used in the making of the drawing – that of a lightly marked, yet complete, ink under-drawing – is comparable to that used by Mattia Preti in his drawings for the frontispiece and title page of the c.1670 manuscript history of the Order by Abbate Cenni.8 However, there is little else to compare between the drawings of the two manuscripts, as some shortcomings visible in the dal Pozzo composition render the latter the less successful piece. While the artist harnessed the apparata of gravitas and monumentality, in the use of drapery in the background and an inscribed pedestal, three other factors stand out for the way they unwittingly diminish the laudatory image, namely: the representation of Cotoner by means of a sculptural bust rather than intimating a portrait from life, the indeterminately angled torso instead of a clearly frontal stance or a profile, and the magistral drapes seemingly ‘tucked in’ rather than flowing animatedly. These factors suggest the hand of an artist who had yet to engage successfully in the craft of portraiture. On the other hand, the artist executed his ‘invention’ competently, in the medium intended to result in an image still to be engraved. Altogether, the drawing belongs to the hand of a tutored artist or certainly one working within the immediate circle of a master artist. Notes 1 2 3 4 Dr William Zammit is a Senior Lecturer and currently heads the Department of Library Information and Archive Sciences at the University of Malta. His field of research specialization is the history of communication in the early modern period, book and publishing history, bibliographic control of Malta-related publications (Melitensia) and local and foreign archival holdings related to the Maltese Islands. Dr Theresa Vella is an art historian with a research interest in the history of art collecting and in the art of landscape. She has published books and essays on Charles Frederick de Brocktorff, Matteo Perez d'Aleccio, Mattia Preti and Michele Bellanti amongst other art historical subjects. Dr Vella is currently engaged as the museological consultant to the Palace Regeneration Project, and also lectures on History of Art and Museology at the University of Malta. 5 6 7 8 For a study on Vertot in the context of Hospitaller historiography cf. W. Zammit, ‘Vertot’s Histoire des Chevaliers de Malte within the Context of Hospitaller Historiographical Practices’: https://www.academia. edu/26924676/Vertots_Histoire_des_Chevaliers_de_Malte_Its_ prohibition_in_the_context_of_Hospitaller_historiographical_practices. See also W. Zammit, ‘Decree Prohibiting Vertot’s Histoire des Chevaliers’, in Treasures of Malta, Vol. XXII No. 3 (Summer 2016), pp. 80-1. B. dal Pozzo, Historia della Sacra Religione militare di S. Giovanni Gerosolimitano detta di Malta, first part (Verona, G. Berno, 1703), 843 pages; second part (Venice, G. Albrizzi, 1715), 727 pages. For the original manuscript copy of the work, A[rchivum] O[rdinis] M[elitensis] 6516 and 6517, with the first being dated 4 May 1677. It was dedicated to Grand Master Nicolas Cotoner and bears the large drawing of the Grand Master featured in this study. Structurally both MS volumes correspond more or less to their printed counterparts, with the last MS volume being at some point extended to 1688. The survival of the two manuscript volumes enables a comparative study of the manuscript and printed editions. Among the histories of the Order compiled between Bosio’s and dal Pozzo’s was that by Knight Cesare Magalotti, commissioned by Grand Master de Paule; see Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Fondo Barberini Latino 6681, f. 2, letter by Inquisitor of Malta Chigi dated 7 October 1634 and 29 December 1634. Both documents were published by V. Borg in Fabio Chigi Apostolic Delegate in Malta (1634–1639): An Edition of his Official Correspondence (Vatican City, 1967), 129 and 135. On Luca Cenni, appointed as the Order’s historian on 3 August 1668, see P.G. Pisani, ‘Adaptations in Hospitaller Historiography’, Symposia Melitensia 8 (2012), 58. See also G. Bonello, ‘Two Unknown Mattia Preti Drawings discovered at the National Library’, in Histories of Malta: Convictions and Conjectures, Vol. 4 (Malta: Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, 2003), 61–6. Cenni’s incomplete manuscript history is now at the National Library of Malta, Libr. MS 163. AOM 262, f. 82. Dal Pozzo’s history was clearly intended as a continuation of Bosio’s, and this is actually stated on the title page of the first volume. A[rchivio] S[egreto] V[aticano] S[egreteria di] S[tato] Malta, 56, f. 7, Inquisitor Spinola–Secretariat of State, dated 12 January 1704: ‘Avendo terminata il Cavaliere dal Pozzo, veronese, l’Istoria di questa Religione in supplemento di quanto ne aveva scritto il Bosio, benchè il libro sia stato impresso senza saputa del Consiglio, ha nulla di meno questo tacitamente permesso che si pubblichi, e si esibì in Convento da qualche mercante’. AOM 264, f. 4, dated 2 May 1693. This detailed account forms part of the last sections of dal Pozzo’s second volume. The authors are grateful to Prof. Horatio C.R. Vella for providing this translation. ASV SS Malta, 27A, Inquisitor Pallavicino–Secretariat of State, dated 7 December 1673: ‘Sopra la nuova porta Cottonera è stata già alzata la statua di bronzo del Signor Gran Maestro, e si sta facendo sotto la descrizione’. This important reference confirms that the construction of what is now known as Żabbar Gate took place earlier than is generally thought. Libr. MS 163, National Library of Malta. 81 · Treasures of Malta 67, Christmas 2016