A painting depicting St John the Baptist and St Paul in the chapel of Our Lady of Manresa at Casa Manresa, Floriana, has been restored to mark the 240th anniversary of the chapel’s consecration by Bishop Vincenzo Labini on 23 July 1786.
The oil on canvas, by celebrated artist Antoine Favray, was restored over the past six months by conservator Amy Sciberras and her team. It uniquely brings together the patron saints of the Order of St John and Malta. Theologically, the painting reflects on how both saints experienced the desert as a place of spiritual isolation, prayer, and rigorous preparation before embarking on their respective ministries.
Positioned as the first altar painting on the left-hand side of the chapel, the work forms part of a set of four lateral altar paintings within the chapel’s oval-shaped interior, which dates to the mid-18th century. Favray was also commissioned to paint the titular work, two oval paintings exploring the themes of discernment and the ‘good death’, and an image of God the Father that once adorned the chapel’s dome before the present lantern was constructed. Together, these four works complement Favray’s highly-celebrated titular masterpiece — depicting St Ignatius of Loyola writing his Spiritual Exercises — which was restored and unveiled earlier this year. As a whole, the chapel’s paintings serve as a visual catechesis on living a worthy life.
Casa Manresa, today home to the Archbishop’s Curia, is a historic baroque building constructed in the 1740s by Fra Pier Francesco Rosignoli as a Jesuit retreat house for Ignatian spiritual exercises. Its chapel, which houses the relics of St Calcedonius, was consecrated by Bishop Labini on 23 July 1786.
