- Mariano Gerada
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Statue of the Assumption of Mary carved in solid wood by Mariano Gerada, 1808.
Mariano Gerada (1766 - 1823) was a Maltese sculptor.
He was trained in Valencia, Spain, and gained fame with his polychrome wooden statues, whose exquisite curves revealed a deep knowledge of Gothic devotional images. One can found various titular statues around Malta carved in wood by the artist, among others one could find the statue of Our Lady full of Grace venerated at Zabbar, The Assumption of Our Lady known as Santa Marija for the village of Ghaxaq which is considered as the most beautiful statue of its title in Malta and Saint Catherine of Alexandria for Zurrieq. One could also note that the statue of the Archangel Michael which is found in the parish Church of Cospicua is considered one of his masterpieces. An interesting fact is, that Saint Michael's draft statue model was made out of the remaining wood used to carve Saint Mary's statue of Ghaxaq and it can still be found in Ghaxaq's Parish Church Sacristy. Other non-religious statues are the Lion and Unicorn fountains found to the left and right of the entrance of St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta and were made from local limestone.
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