Two Flemish Tapestries back in Malta

The two Flemish tapestries that had been sent to Belgium for restoration are back in Malta.

In 1997, it was agreed that two panels representing : "TheAdoration of the Shepherds" and "TheAnnunciation"would be loaned to the Municipality of Antwerp for the RUBENSTEXTILEN exhibition which opened on the 27 July and ran through 5th October1997. The Municipality agreed to pay most of the expenses incurred in therestoration of the second mentioned panel. With the full authorization of theMinister of Education and National Culture, the Hon. Evarist Bartolo, theMuseums Department met the remaining balance to have both panelsfully cleaned and restored at the Royal Textile Restoration Laboratories ofGaspard de Wit of Mechelen, Belgium. Thesetwo tapestries are now back in St. John's Museum.

The entire set of Flemish Tapestries consists of 15 largerectangular panels and 14 smaller oblong ones and most of these will needintensive restoration attention. The Ministry is planning that the Centre forRestoration Studies, to be set up at Bighi under the fourth Italo-MalteseFinancial Protocol, will have a section devoted to textile restoration. Onlywhen this workshop starts functioning can we hope to tackle in a systematic andconsistent way the conservation of the whole set of tapestries.

The Flemish tapestries were produced on designsby Peter Pal Rubens. They were acquired by Grand Master Perellos in 1700 and,no doubt, form part of Malta'smost precious heritage. In the past they hung in St John's three times a year. In the 1920's,due to the precarious condition to which they had been reduced, they were hungbut once a year. In 1988, to avert their complete destruction, they were put ondisplay at the Museum of St John's. The onlyrecent attempt at restoration took place in 1965/66 when one single panel,representing "Christ's Resurrection", was restored in France.