BOV Foundation proudly supported the restoration of one of Malta’s few 15th-century retables
The BOV Foundation supported the conservation and restoration of the pala d’altare at the Parish Church of St George in Qormi, dating back to the 15th century. Following the completion of the three-year restoration project, the retable has now been returned to the church.
The retable is centred around The Lamentation, a highly significant 15th-century panel painting attributed to an unknown Sicilian artist active during the first half of the century. It is flanked by two later 15th-century side panels, St George and the Dragon and St Gregory with a Female Saint, attributed to a Northern Italian workshop, probably of Lombard provenance. Although now visually associated as a single ensemble, the three panels were created by different artists and at different times, before being brought together within the devotional and liturgical history of St George’s Parish Church.
By the mid-17th century, the panels had been reunited on the Pietà altar, where they were mounted separately within a stone framework. It was also during this period that the associated painted crucifix was incorporated into the ensemble.
The conservation works, entrusted to PrevArti Laboratories, included technical examination, photographic and graphic documentation, infrared and X-radiographic investigation, consolidation of unstable paint and wooden supports, cleaning, the controlled removal of deteriorated varnish and later overpaint, structural repairs, filling of losses, reversible retouching and the application of protective varnish. The project also included the design and installation of a suitable hanging system for the safe display of the restored ensemble.
Pierre Bugeja, Founder and Senior Conservator at PrevArti, noted that this conservation project revealed important historical and iconographic information. Infrared reflectography and cleaning showed that later overpainting had substantially altered the appearance of St George and the Dragon, obscuring original details of the dragon, armour, reins and other narrative elements. In the right-hand panel, conservation also clarified the identity of the female saint accompanying St Gregory: a vessel previously altered by overpaint to resemble a book was revealed to be an ointment jar, supporting her identification as Mary Magdalene.
This project stands among the most significant conservation and restoration initiatives supported by the BOV Foundation. Ernest Agius, BOV COO and Deputy Chair of the Foundation, stated, “Through the BOV Foundation, we are proud to support initiatives that protect and preserve Maltese national heritage, ensuring they can be appreciated by present and future generations.”
The pala d’altare was the titular painting of the parish church from the mid-15th century to 1632, when it was replaced by a new titular painting of St George and the dragon, depicted by Gaspare Formica.
