The Malta Society of Arts is awarding its prestigious Gold Medal for 2024 to Profs. Keith Sciberras in recognition of his achievements in the field of History of Art and his contribution towards the conservation of Palazzo de La Salle.
Profs. Keith Sciberras Biography
KEITH SCIBERRAS, Ph.D., (b.1970) is an art historian and curator. He is a professor of art history at the Department of Art and Art History, University of Malta, where he is also the Rector’s Delegate for the University’s Historic Buildings and works of art, responsible for the UM Gallery of Art. He is a member of the University Senate (2014–present) and was Head of the Department of Art and Art History between 2012 and 2022. He is also the Coordinator of the Caravaggio Studies Project.
Keith has published extensively on Roman Baroque sculpture and Italian Baroque painting. He is the author of a corpus of essays in leading academic journals and has written several books. These include Caravaggio: Art, Knighthood and Malta (with David Stone; 2006), Melchiorre Cafà – Maltese Genius of the Roman Baroque (2006), Baroque Painting in Malta (2009), Mattia Preti: The Triumphant Manner (2012), Mattia Preti: Life and Works (2020), and Art as Life: Caravaggio – Malta (2023).
Regarding Roman Baroque sculpture, Professor Sciberras has researched and established patterns and mechanics of patronage for major works of art, leading to the identification of significant works in Malta by prominent figures in Italian art, including Alessandro Algardi, Ciro Ferri, Domenico Guidi, Gio Batta Contini, Antonio Arrighi, and Vincenzo Pacetti. On Baroque painting, he has focused particularly on Caravaggio, Mattia Preti, and other key figures of art in Malta. Our understanding of Caravaggio’s final years, especially his time in Naples, Malta, and Sicily, has been significantly shaped by Sciberras’s studies.
He has delivered lectures at major universities, museums, and art institutions in Europe and the USA, including the prestigious Sydney J. Freedberg Lecture on Italian Art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in 2024. A former Trustee of the Association of Art Historians (AAH), London (2012), and Andrew W. Mellon Senior Fellow (2005) in the Department of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Professor Sciberras has contributed to numerous international research projects and exhibitions on Italian Baroque art, including the milestone Caravaggio: The Final Years (Naples-London, 2004-2005). He has curated, among others, Caravaggio and Paintings of Realism in Malta (Valletta 2007) and co-curated (with Vittoria Sgarbi) Il Cavalier Calabrese – Mattia Preti tra Caravaggio e Luca Giordano (Torino 2013).
Professor Sciberras was co-curator and team leader of the Malta Pavilion for La Biennale di Venezia 2022, with a project entitled Diplomazija Astuta (lead artist: Arcangelo Sassolino). Among other exhibitions, he curated Arcangelo Sassolino – Sconfinamenti (UM Gallery of Art, 2023) and Inwahhdu (MUZA, 2024). His interests lie mainly in immersive experiences and in the dialogue between contemporary art and the old masters. He is the recipient of the Premio Pio Alferano (2021), a Cavaliere della Stella d’Italia (2023), Vice-President of the Casino Maltese (2022–present), and Vice-President and Research Director of the Società Dante Alighieri, Comitato di Malta (2019–present).
Keith was commissioned by the Malta Society of Arts to produce a historical timeline report on Palazzo de La Salle. He was also the project manager for the conservation of the Sala dei Cavalieri.
Gold Medal Award History
The Malta Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, established in 1852, was, for at least a century, the islands’ only nationally recognised promoter of the Arts. Palazzo de La Salle served as the meeting place and exhibition space for the Accademia di Belle Arti group founded by Josef Kalleja in 1930. Notably, in the early 1950’s, the Society came to the aid of the newly-formed Modern Art movements and awarded scholarships to some of the great artists of the time, including Giuseppe Calì, Antonio Sciortino and Joseph Briffa.
Throughout the years, the Exhibition Halls of Palazzo de La Salle have been graced with the works of Malta’s great masters including Anton Inglott, Gianni Vella, Vincent Apap, Lazzaro Pisani and Edward Caruana Dingli.
The first Gold Medal given by the Malta Society of Arts was in 1896, when it was awarded to Emidio Vassallo for his achievements in metal engraving. Past recipients of the Gold Medal Award over the past 127 years have included such illustrious names as Sir Temi Zammit (1904), Robert Caruana Dingli (1916), Emvin Cremona (1963), Oreste Chircop (1997), Richard England (1984), Joseph Calleja (2007), Karmen Azzopardi (2009), Harry Alden (2013) and Carmine Lauri (2015) to name but a few.
For more on the history of the MSA’s Gold Medal visit www.artsmalta.org/gold-medal-award
The award will be conferred by H.E. Myriam Spiteri Debono, President of Malta during a private ceremony taking place on Thursday 5 December 2024.
