5/internal/media/dispatcher/1615/fullBust of Viscount Horatio NelsonR. Hornyold-StricklandMMM 003767488999211A bust of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte, born 18 September 1758, died on 21 October 1805. /internal/media/dispatcher/1767/fullFigurehead of Gregorio Mirabitur AnonymousMMM 005106489017247The Figurehead showcases the renowned shipbuilder Gregorio Mirabitur who was born on 18 June 1809, and lived in Senglea. Mirabitur died at the age of 77 on 15 January 1886. His firm ordered a figurehead representing his image in full profile along with his dog for one of their vessels. Since it resulted in such a realistic rendition, it was decided to retain the figurehead in the Firm’s office./internal/media/dispatcher/34669/fullHercules1500sAnonymousFAS/S/1145040643672This marble statue shows a nude bearded Hercules in contrapposto pose, holding the club with which he stunned the invincible Nimean lion. It could not be killed with the weapons of mere mortals because its fur was impervious to attack. Hercules strangled the lion with his bare hands and is shown here proudly holding its pelt. This is one of the surviving items from the first known public collection in Malta, which was that of the Order of St John's Vice Chancellor, Gian Francesco Abela (1582-1655). He owned a large collection of various items in his villa, also known as 'Il Museo di San Giacomo', on Corradino Heights. The statue, known as the 'Ercole Maltese', was once considered to be a genuine antique due to the classical pose and accurate anatomy of the figure. It has recently been dated to the Renaissance as a copy after the antique./internal/media/dispatcher/38675/fullThe Charity of St Thomas of Villanova1663Melchiorre CafàFAS/S/405040653674The Maltese sculptor Melchiorre Cafà was admired as a brilliant virtuoso of the Roman Baroque. His talents even attracted the attention of the great sculptor and architect, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He died in Rome at the young age of 31, leaving behind a number of unfinished commissions. This work is a model for the ‘Charity of St Thomas of Villanova’ in the Pamphili family chapel in the Church of S. Agostino in Rome. The bozzetto was executed with great confidence and boldness, particularly as Cafà pushes the figures of Charity and the children outside the niche that frames the central figure of St Thomas of Villanova. The elongation of the figures and the fleeting movement in the drapery show unprecedented originality in the sculptor’s style and technique. He died before finishing the marble sculpture which was completed by Ercole Ferrata in whose bottega Cafà worked./internal/media/dispatcher/34670/fullSpeed1937Antonio SciortinoFAS/S/3175040743705‘Speed’ is one of Antonio Sciortino’s equine sculptures but it aims to express an abstract concept, that of speed. The horses seem to blend into one another as they race forward and are reduced to little more than horizontal lines. The stylisation of the sculpture betrays an Art Deco influence, but the concept and the use of lines to depict movement look towards Futurism. The lines are the gushes of displaced air caused by the forward projectile movement of the horses. Only the horses’ heads with flaring nostrils and their front legs remind us that this is a figurative work. Sciortino felt strongly about this piece, describing it as a strong power passing through which no obstacle can stop, leaving behind a force leading in the opposite direction.