The 400th anniversary of Caravaggio’s arrival in Malta is being commemorated by the Philatelic Bureau of Maltapost plc with a stamp issue on Friday the 20th of July. The set of stamps, which has been designed in-house, consists of two stamps and a miniature sheet.

The stamps show details of Caravaggio’s two masterpieces executed during his stay in the Maltese Islands. The stamps are available in sheets of ten.

The 5c / Euro 0.12 stamp depicts his St Jerome, and is 44.00mm x 31.00mm in size, with a perforation of 13.9 x 14.0 (comb). The second stamp, with a face value of 29c / Euro 0.68, shows a detail from The Beheading of St John, and is 48.00mm x 39.5mm in size, with a perforation of 14.0 x 14.0 (comb).

The miniature sheet, with a face value of Lm2 / Euro 4.66, which is 120mm x 86mm in size, shows the full painting of The Beheading of St John, with an inset stamp 44.00mm x 31.00mm in size, and a perforation of 13.9 x 14.0 (comb).

The stamps have been offset printed by Printex Limited of Qormi on Maltese Crosses watermarked paper.

The renowned Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi is generally referred to as Caravaggio, the name of a small city in Lombardy where he was born in 1573. His early years in the field of art seem to have been not without difficulties, perhaps due to his irascible and quarrelsome character, but he later acquired some sedateness by entering the workshop of the Cavalier d’Arpino, where he painted still lifes, and afterwards obtained the patronage of the refined Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte.

Caravaggio had his first public success as a painter in the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome (1599 - 1602). His naturalistic interpretation of traditional subjects, both of a historical and of a religious character, was a veritably radical one. He was an original and forceful, indeed quite dramatic, painter who made a revolutionary use of the effects of contrasting light and shadow - chiaroscuro - at times in an almost gruesome setting.

Caravaggio’s influence on later painters was remarkable. The invitation of Grand Master of the Order of St John, Alof de Wignacourt, perhaps inspired by a benevolent Providence, made him come to Malta in 1607 and he was later admitted to the Order as a Knight of Grace on 14 July 1608.

It was truly a stroke of fortune for Malta that in the relatively very short period of his sojourn here he has left two masterpieces: The Beheading of St John the Baptist and St Jerome, both intended to adorn the magnificent interior of the then Conventual Church of St John and which are two superb examples of Caravaggio’s realistic art, the first one showing the beginning of the artist’s name formed with the blood trickling from the Saint’s neck.

Unfortunately, Caravaggio’s turbulent spirit made him commit some misdemeanour and this caused him to flee the Island in the same year. Caravaggio died of fever in Porto Ercole in 1610.

This set of stamps and miniature sheet will be available as First Day covers, in mint or cancelled format, and as Souvenir Folders and Presentation Packs. The stamps can be purchased from all Maltapost postal retail outlets in Malta and Gozo, from the Maltapost Mobile Unit and from the Philatelic Bureau on telephone 25961747 or email philately@maltapost.com.... Additional details are obtainable from the Maltapost website at www.maltapost.com....