From Malta to Purgatory: Images of Death and Dying in Hospitaller Malta

Dr Christian Attard

This talk explores the theology of the hereafter as it was understood in 17th- and 18th-century Malta, examining how these beliefs were both reflected in and influenced by the art and imagery of the period. It also examines how, despite popular aphorisms which underlined the egalitarian nature of death, wealth, social status, and gender profoundly shaped the preparations for the afterlife. Finally, the discussion incorporates the devastating plague of 1676, considering its alarming death toll and its significant influence on contemporary beliefs and visual representations.

Dr Christian Attard is a resident academic in the Department of Art and Art History, University of Malta, and also lectures at the Malta School of Art. His areas of interest include the iconographies of plague and death, and the art of the late 19^th and 20^th centuries, with a special emphasis on Visual Culture methodologies. Amongst Attard’s more recent projects is research about and conservation coordination of the cultic 17^th-century crucifix, popularly known as Ta’ Ġieżu (2019), made by Frate Innocenzo da Petralia, a study about the imagery of plague and death titled The Art of Dying Well: Visual Culture in Times of Piety and Plague (2022), and a study about one of Malta’s leading 20th-century artists, titled Antoine Camilleri, A World Within (2023).

Seat reservations are recommended by emailing events@heartofgozo.org.mt.