Gar-Ing

Garagona Bartolomeo [1584-1641]

Bartolomeo was born in Senglea. It seems that his father was a Greek from Rhodes, having good connections with the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
His mother was Maltese. Besides being a painter he was also an architect.
He designed the side aisles of St. Paul�s Shipwreck in Valletta and also the Cappella Ardente for St. John�s Cathedral. He was very influenced by Caravaggio whom he studied while in Malta and also in Rome.
He died in 1641 but death registration is still to be found

Works: [Malta] Birzebbuga. Imdina. Paola. Rabat.
[Gozo] Victoria.

The Deposition (1627)
Imdina Cathedral (Sacristy)
Imdina

Gatt Abram   [1863-1944)

Born in Cospicua on the 4th October 1863, son of Guzeppi and Regina Cassar. Studied at the Technical School in his hometown, which was ran at that time by Lazzaro Pisani. He also spent some time with Carlo Darmanin. He was first of all a sculptor and a brilliant designer. His sculptural works are found in many localities in Malta. Because of the dangers of war, in 1940 he went to live in Haz-Zebbug, a relatively safer place.
He died there in St. Joseph Street on the 28th of March 1944 and was buried at the Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery in the Crucifix Confraternity�s common grave. (West F/E.15)

Works:   Cospicua. Kalkara.

Christ the King
Domus San Pio IX
Cospicua

Grech Antonio [1758-1819]

Known as �Antonaci, Tonaci, or In-Naici�. Born in 1758, son of Gaetano and Anna They. He was brother to the more famous Giuseppi Grech. It seems that he had connections with Rocco Buhagiar and that he also studied under him. He was a prolific decorator and in 1787 he did the ceiling of the Haz-Zebbug Parish Church Sacristy, some of which, today is lost. He decorated also many residences belonging to the Knights of St. John, in Valletta. Among his watercolours found in private collections we find three relating to old defence batteries used by the English during the French blockade. He was probably commissioned by the English authorities to record these events.
He died in Valletta, on the 11th of December 1819.

Works: Kalkara

St. Liberata faces the Emperor
Santa Liberata Church
Kalkara

Grech Giuseppe [1755-1787]

Born in Valletta on the 8th of November 1755, son of Gaetano and Anna They. He studied art under Rocco Buhagiar. After completing several decorations in the Grand Master�s Palace with his brother Antonio, he was recommended by the famous French painter, Antoine Favray to further his studies at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. In 1783 he won a gold medal for his painting: Christ and the Temple Sellers. This canvas today is at the Fine Arts Museum in Valletta. His fame grew so much that in 1787, he was recommended to decorate the ceiling of the Metropolitan Cathedral at Imdina. This did not materialize because he died before the contract was due to be signed..
He died in Rome on the 19th of September 1787 and was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo in Lucina.

Works: Imdina. Naxxar

Via Crucis XII (1779)
Naxxar Parish Church
Naxxar

Grech Hiermenegildus [1770? -1830]

Little is known about this painter although some assume that he was brother to Giuseppi and Antonio Grech. It is also possible that he was, for a time Chaplain of the Order of St. John in the Madonna of Victories Church in Valletta.

Works: Attard. Valletta. Haz-Zebbug. Zurrieq

Via Crucis III
Haz-Zebbug Parish Church
Haz-Zebbug

Hyzler Giuseppe [1793-1858]

Born in Malta with a German background. He joined the Nazarene movement in Rome. These were a group of artists under the leadership of Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1896),who considered historical art, particularly the sacred, as the peak of culture and were very much inspired by the frescoes of the 14th and 15th centuries. This group of artists began to live as a community near Rome, dress in black and leaving their hair long. The experiment did not succeed and eventually the community was dissolved. In 1823 Giuseppi, returned to Malta and opened a small art school in Valletta.   In the Fine Arts Museum, Valletta, we find a self-portrait, with himself dressed in the Nazarene habit.
He died in February of 1858.

Works: [Malta]   Cospicua. Kalkara. Lija. Rabat. Valletta. Haz-Zabbar.
              [Gozo]    Victoria.

Madonna of the Rosary (1840)
Parish Church of St. Dominic
Valletta

Hyzler Vincenzo [1813-1849]

Vincenzo was the brother of Giuseppi Hyzler and was a very talented painter. His promising career was cut short by an early death. He left behind only a few large pieces, one of them being a Crucifixion that is found in Stresa, Italy. Vincenzo joined the Nazarene group and became a good friend of Overbeck. So much so that when Overbeck was asked to paint the Crucifixion himself, having too many commissions, he passed it on to Vincenzo.

Works: Valletta. Zejtun.

Saint Andrew Apostle (1846)
Zejtun Parish Church
Zejtun

Inglott Anton [1915-1945]

Inglott was born in Hamrun on the 1st of January 1915. At the age of nineteen he started a four-year course at the Malta Government School of Arts, Valletta, under the direction of Edward Caruana Dingli. In 1938 he went to Rome after winning a government scholarship and continued his studies at the Regia Accademia di Belle Arti under the well-known Carlo Siviero. He returned to Malta in 1940, on the eve of Italy�s entering the war. Anton married Maria Pitre de Martino on the 1st of June 1944 and had a daughter.
In 1940 there was already signs of a fatal illness. During the next five years he showed a particular interest in sacred art but he died suddenly at the age of thirty. He worked in oils, pastels, ink, and pencil. He produced good portraits, rural scenes, and religious art. tackling interesting subjects such as the study of war and many still lifes. His works can be admired in The Fine Arts Museum, Maltese churches and in many private collections.
He died in Sliema on the 15th of August 1945.

Works: Balzan. Imdina. Imsida. Valletta.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Metropolitan Cathedral Museum
Imdina