By David J. Glenn
Constance Del Vecchio-Maltese, wife of state Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale), is an artist, not a geneticist, but she uses present-day people she's found who look surprisingly like Renaissance explorers to the New World. Her portraiture is vividly reproduced in her new coffee-table book, “An Artist's Journey of Discovery.”
State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Golia of Douglaston Manor, for example, seemed an ideal model for the “gentlemen explorer” Giovanni da Verrazzano, who claimed much of the east shoreline of North America for France in the 1520s (and now has the famous suspension bridge bearing his name).
The artist had to look no further than her own home to find a model for the legendary Christopher Columbus. She took several photos of the senator, and started with pencil sketches to show “a stern and determined man,” as she put it.
There would have been no voyage to the New World – at least not by Columbus – without Queen Isabella of Spain, who, besides running a vicious Inquisition against all non-Christians, was interested in Columbus' planned journey, especially the promise of gold from new lands.
Artist Maltese found Carol Monte of northeast Queens perfect for the queen – especially after the artist gave her a costume-store crown to wear.
Maltese researched the life and, most importantly, the personality of each of her Renaissance-era subjects. For Columbus, for example, she read “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” by Samuel Eliot Morison and six other works. “I decided to show the character of the man in his face,” Maltese says in the book.
She was prompted to take her Journey of Discovery when Anne Paolucci asked her to create a portrait of the 15th century mariner as part of the quincentenary in 1992 of Columbus' voyage.
Maltese punctuates the volume with an array of anecdotes about how she met and decided upon her models. One example: Ron Baumann of upstate Greenville, a plumber, was examining a faulty pipe of the kitchen sink at the Malteses' summer house, when he noticed Maltese doing the portrait of Verrazzano. She had a book open depicting an etching of Henry Hudson.
“My God,” she told him. “You look just like Henry Hudson. How would you like to pose for me?”
“What do you want me to do first – fix your sink or pose?” he asked. They decided the sink had first dibs; Baumann returned the following week, donned 17th century attire, and “Henry Hudson was reborn,” Maltese said.
The artist not only innovatively used contemporary models for long-dead personalities (“As far as I know, it's never been done before,” she said), but she also depicted aspects of the subject's life and times in the borders around the portrait. “I knew Connie had done something extraordinary in juxtaposing the past and present in the faces she portrayed, creating a new kind of contemporary portraiture,” Paolucci writes in the book's introduction.
“I have no doubt in my mind that whatever else Constance Del Vecchio Maltese will paint in the future, she will continue to surprise us.”
“An Artist's Journey of Discovery” is published by Griffon House Publications for the Bagehot Council in Wilmington, Del. (Maltese said she receives none of the proceeds from sales of the book. “I did it for love of the project,” she said).
For information on ordering, call 302-659-1791.
