The cult of the Madonna del Soccorso in Malta and a triptych for the Civitas’ Cathedral : attribution and new considerations

Abstract

People frequently commuted between Southern Europe and North Africa in the Late Medieval period when the Maltese islands found themselves at the frontier between a Southern Europe that was becoming distinctly Christian, and a Muslim North Africa. This had an impact on the development of the art and architecture of the Maltese islands that was a melting pot of cultures that fostered artistic exchange particularly between Malta and Sicily, but even beyond Sicily. Malta has several Late Medieval and Renaissance works of art that serve as a reflection of the multicultural aspect of Maltese society before the arrival of the Knights of the Order of St John in 1530. The Maltese islands were, from the late thirteenth century until 1530, part of the Confederation of the Aragonese Crown which saw the settlement of Aragonese and Castilian families settling in Sicily and in Malta, particularly in the first half of the fifteenth century. Throughout this period there still were close connections and exchanges occurring particularly with Sicily, and this is what made the presence of a Renaissance artistic sensibility possible in the Maltese islands.