History of Tapestries
Over the years the Grand Masters, dignitaries and knights donated gifts of high artistic value to St John’s Conventual Church and made enormous contributions to enrich their church with only the best works of art. St John’s owes its magnificence to the munificence of its patrons who contributed towards its embellishments.
The set of Flemish tapestries is one of the most outstanding private gifts. It was the gift made by the Aragonese Grand Master Ramon Perellos y Roccaful elected in 1697. The statute of the Order dictated that newly elected Grand Masters would present the conventual church of the Order with a gift or ‘gioia’ on their appointment. The tapestries are the largest complete set in the world consisting of twenty-nine pieces ordered from the Brussels atelier of Judecos de Vos for the sum of 40,000scudi. The entire set consists of fourteen large scenes depicting the life of Christ and allegories and fourteen panels representing the Virgin Mary, Christ the Saviour and the Apostles. They were woven from the finest wool and silk yarns and based on the cartoons of the renowned artist Peter Paul Rubens.
By 1701 the set had reached Malta and brought the embellishment of the church to a climax. The tapestries were originally suspended from the main cornice of the nave of the church during important occasions such as the feast of St John the Baptist.