Giuseppe Calì

Born in Valletta, Calì was a Maltese painter of Italian descent. He was one of seven children of Raffaele Calì, a set designer and musician, and Giovanna Padiglione, a mezzo-soprano. His Neapolitan parents had relocated to British Malta in 1840. At 19, thanks to the support of merchant William Stephen Eynaud, Calì moved to Naples to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti under the neoclassicist Giuseppe Mancinelli. Though trained in the academic style, he was more drawn to the anti-academic Domenico Morelli and the Verismo movement, as well as Romanticism and the ideals of the Italian Risorgimento. He returned to Valletta in 1867 after his parents, alarmed by rumors he intended to join Garibaldi, summoned him home.

Calì’s first major work, The Death of Dragut (1867), is considered a masterpiece; and it was acquired by the government and displayed at the Grandmaster's Palace armory, later moving to the Museum of Fine Arts. Early works show influences of both Mancinelli and Morelli.

In Malta, Calì gained recognition for decorating private homes with landscapes and portraits, and only after 1870 did he begin accepting Church commissions. Among his significant religious works is St. Jerome (1881) at the Sacro Cuor Church in Sliema. Many churches in Malta and Gozo are adorned with his ceiling and altar paintings.