SENGLEA THROUGH THE AGES – 59

 

Ganni Darmanin (1817 – 1908) – an artist and statue maker who loved Senglea

 

     The whole ‘Darmanin’ family is renowned for the making statues, but one of them, in particular, was so renowned that all the others faded in comparison. Nowadays when we say that a particular statue was made by a Darmanin we usually mean Karlu or Karlozz. Nonetheless Karlozz Darmanin is not on his own as an artist in this family. He was brought up in a family where its members, were under the leadership of their father Guzeppi. The family is responsible for lots of works of art in our churches, palaces and other places of interest. They lived in a large house, which had three main doors, in Victory Street, Senglea. On the façade there was a large sign ‘Giuseppe Darmanin e Figli’ (Giuseppe Darmanin and Sons). Giuseppe was an inspiration for his children. Karlozz was nicknamed ‘prince’ because of his knack of making statues. Unfortunately, the eldest of the family, Ganni, who was renowned for his expertise in marble works, is nearly forgotten. A relative of the family, Glormu, is renowned in Senglea for making the statue of St Joseph in papier mache.

 

Ganni’s early days

 

     In this article we are going to take a look at Ganni Darmanin, the brother of Karlozz. He came to Senglea when he was very young and he spent the best years of his life in Senglea. His father Giuseppe Darmanin married Marija nee Cumbo in 1816 and they went to live in the Valletta in the district of the parish of St Paul. Ganni was born on the 3rd April 1817 and he was baptised in the Collegiate of St Paul on the following day by Canon Dun Pawl Borg who was the Vicar Curate. He was named Ganni and the names of his uncles, that is, Pawlu, Luigi, Pietru, Baskal and Rusar were given as additional names. His god parents were Anton and Ganna Schembri, both residents of Valletta.

 

     Soon after Ganni’s birth, Giuzeppi moved with his family from Valletta to Senglea. All his other children, including Karlozz, were born in our city. Giuzeppi was to become the founder of a renowned firm. His children started to follow his trade. Some of their works remained anonymous. They worked in such close knit environment that we do not know exactly who made what. Their main aim was the well being of their firm. Since the whole family was working together with their father, their work was being registered as having originated from the firm Giuseppe Darmanin e Figli. A typical example is the marble vase kept in the Sacristy of Senglea’s church. It was made in 1878 by the firm Giuseppe Darmanin e Figli.

 

     Karlozz soon branched off on his own because he was being commissioned to do a lot of statues. Ganni was the main support for Giuseppi and after a short while took over most the work in marble. The Darmanin Firm, under the leadership of Ganni, not only took orders for new pieces of work but also started to do repair work. Without doubt Ganni’s name is found in the register of other parishes who commissioned him for work they required. What is of interest now is that Ganni’s name appears many times in the administrative register of the parish of Senglea.

 

The Fraternity of the Holy Trinity

 

     Ganni Darmanin was a Christian who took active part in the activities held in the parish in which he lived. Senglea was the parish of Ganni as a young lad and he joined the Fraternity of the Holy Trinity. The members of the fraternity were proud of him because it was an honour for them to have him as a member. It was obvious that he was requested to do some work for the altar of the Holy Trinity. In 1853, when Ganni was thirty six, he was commissioned to prepare a design for marble work on the altar of the Holy Trinity. It was the same year that Tommaso Madiona painted the picture on the altar of the Holy Trinity.      

      

A marmist who inspired others

 

     Ganni Darmanin was known for making statues but he is better known as a marmist. He was not simply an employee with his father and a fellow worker with his brothers in the family firm, but he was entrusted with great responsibilities. His father used to leave the final touches of their work in his hands. At first he was entrusted a lot of work just because he happened to be the eldest of the brothers but then once his father retired all marble work of the Darmanin Firm fell into his hands. His main marble work in Senglea is the altar of the Holy Trinity and we find the following written about Ganni:

 

‘As the eldest of the Darmanin brothers he was in charge of the marvellous marble works of the altar of the Holy Trinity. He was entrusted with the supervision of this work not just because he was the eldest of the family but also because he was the best among them all.’

 

     The artistic abilities of Ganni were not only appreciated by the people of Senglea. When Dun Guzepp Micallef wrote the history of Luqa he had this note:

 

‘The main altar of the Luqa church was manufactured by the firm of the Darmanin brothers on the design made by one of the brothers, namely Ganni. The altar was made during the years 1838-41 and the end product was greatly appreciated and lauded by many art critics, both for its design and the work on the marble itself.’

 

     The Darmanin firm kept on working together except Karlozz. The works carried out were designed and supervised by Ganni. When Pietru Pawl Castagna was writing his book ‘Storja ta’Malta’ (the story of Malta) he interview Ganni and asked him about his works of art. The list is incomplete because Ganni lived a further twenty years after this interview, but nonetheless the list gives us a good idea of how renowned Ganni was in those days. Some of his marble pieces of art are:

 

i)       the bust of Doctor Lwigi Pisani found in the Mall in Floriana;

ii)      the royal coat of arms at the Palace in Valletta; of the Portes de Bombes and other places;

iii)     the coat of arms at the Barrakka, the Valletta market and other similar places.

 

      He also had a knack of designing church pavements such as that of St Paul’s church in Valletta, three churches in Vittoriosa, namely the parish church; the Annunciation church and the church of Santa Skolastika. He also designed the pavement of the Oratory of the Cathedral of Malta and of the nave of the Gozo cathedral.

 

     The pavements of the two churches of Senglea, namely the Collegiate and the church of Porto Salvo, more commonly known as St Philip’s church. They were designed and laid under the supervision of Ganni. Ganni was also very much sought after to design the pavement of many private homes. One must point out that the main altar of Luqa was not the only one which bore his signature. He was also commissioned to work on headstones and inscriptions. His brothers still worked with him under his supervision and direction.

 

Statues made by Ganni

 

     Ganni Darmanin married Marija Tereza nee Fleri. One of his children was called Marija. He trained her as a sculptress and in his interview with Castagna he told him that she was as good as he was. From Senglea Ganni moved to Vittoriosa. In all the statues Ganni made and which were put up in the streets during the times of the feast, he was always ably assisted by his daughter Marija. Vittoriosa benefited quite a lot from his talent in making these statues and he was commissioned to do them by both the Collegiate of St Lawrence and also by the Dominican Friars. These statues were made of papier mache. He and his daughter made statues for Cospicua, Zabbar, Zebbug, Kirkop and Qormi. During his heydays Ganni was sought out to make similar papier mache statues to be taken even overseas. The statue he is most renowned for is the statue of our Lady of the Lily which he made for the parish of Mqabba in 1876.

 

Some comments about the statues

 

     Whereas Ganni was the master in works made in marble, his brother Karlu was the mastermind in works made in papier mache. There are great similarities in the works carried out by Ganni and Karlu and at times the identity of the artist is difficult to comprehend between the two brothers. Ganni made other statues apart that of the statue for Mqabba namely the statue of Jesus Christ the Redeemer and the Angel of the statue of Jesus at Gethsemane for the parish of Vittoriosa. Unfortunately the angel was destroyed during the war and a new one was made by Guzeppi Caruana. Ganni was also commissioned to make the statue of St Rocco and of Our Lady of Charity, both for the church of Vittoriosa. He also made the statue of St Dominic which is found in the Dominican convent in Vittoriosa. Ganni is also the author of the three figures of the statue of the Crucifixion of Zejtun, namely the statue of Our Lady, of St John and of Mary Magdalene.

 

     Unfortunately Ganni’s work did not get the recognition he deserved and his daughter Marija was unrecognised further more. We have no records that she made any statues after her father’s death and we also have no records of the statues they did together. From Vittoriosa Ganni moved to Rabat, more precisely to 83 Buskett Road (now known as Borg Olivier Road). There he lived very near to the church of St Domenic and so he joined the Fraternity of the Rosary. Ganni’s wife Marija Tereza died some years before him and he passed away on the 4th December 1908 in his Rabat residence. Since he was a member of the Fraternity of the Rosary he was buried in the Church of St Domenic in Rabat.

 

     The main reason of this article is to serve as notice so that a man who made statues of papier mache and marble and who loved Senglea will one day receive the recognition he deserves. Maybe as time goes by we will start making a difference between works carried out by Ganni and works carried out by Karlozz. Actually it is more difficult to separate his works from that of his daughter Marija’s work. Ganni deserves to be remembered as a person who made a good name for Malta by his great artistic qualities during the 19th and early years of the 20th century. I hope that one day he will be recognised as a person who was of great honour to his city and country of birth.

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