GIANNI VELLA
Gianni Vella was born in Bormla, he started showing interest in art at a very young age and was quickly encouraged to produce works for the Immaculate Conception church at a very early stage of his career.
A pupil of Giuseppe Cali, for seven years he also studied under Attilo Palombi. Palombi was very active in Rome between 1883 and 1889 and worked on a number of commissions in churches like La capella della Polonia. Palombi was a late Purista, a style that looked back at the renaissance and at simplicity in art without sacrificing artistic skill. Vella’s apprenticeship taught him the skill of fresco painting, a technique used by Palombi also in Malta.
Attilo Palombi recommended Vella to study at the British Academy in Rome where he won several prices. In 1912 Vella returned to Malta and opened a studio in Valletta. He worked, mainly, on sacred art, villas and palaces. Vella was also a very versatile artist who worked in a variety of media.
In Rome he was exposed and highly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, the Impressionists and the Italian Macchiaioli, Realists and Art Nouveau or Stile Floreale as it was known in Italy. Vella was very aware of the advances of Modern Art, after all he was a contemporary of Pablo Picasso. Yet this Art Nouveau style, very new to Maltese sacred Art, was preferred by the Maltese artist. The Sacred Heart of Jesus ‘Qalb ta Gesu’ Birkirkara is perhaps one of the best of such representations.
Apart from his sacred works, he is well remembered for his famous Sette Giugno drawing and the design for the Sette Giugno Adolorata monument. The latter was executed by Boris Edwards. Edwards was a Russian sculptor who sought refuge in Malta after the Communist uprising. Boris Edwards and Ganni Vella became friends at the Accademia Belle Arti in Rome.
The Sette Giugno drawing was one of Vella’s landmarks in Maltese Art. The drawing is important because the artist was present at the dramatic events which happened on the 7th June 1919 at the Circolo Giovine Malta. Vella shows us drama and anger and his ability in visual storytelling becomes very apparent. One can feel a national uproar against the colonial rule of Britain, whereas he managed to capture the Maltese people’s imagination throughout the ages with one single image. When we think about the Sette Giugno riots, the first image that comes to mind is this drawing by Ganni Vella.
The Adolorata cemetery monument was also designed by Vella. This masterpiece was part of a competition that saw some of Malta’s most talented artists completing. Inaugurated in 1925, Boris Edwards did not manage to see his execution installed since he died in 1924 of a heart attack. Ganni Vella and Boris Edwards both created a monument very much inclined towards Art Nouveau.
References:
Attard Christian,
Times of Malta, 5th June 2011
Between Myth and Reality
https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/Between-myth-and-reality.369196
Attard Christian,
Information delivered via eletronic corrispondence 25/04/2022
‘Attilo Palombi, Del l’ Arte Italiana del XIX Secolo,’
Istituto Matteucci
http://www.istitutomatteucci.it/en/dictionary-of-artists/palombi-attilio
Cachia Jinny,
‘Rakkonti Gianni Vella u Koppli’, Knisja ta Hal Safi
Festa, 2018, pp. 67-69
