A 19th-century illustration by the Maltese artist Salvatore Busuttil in the collection of Yale University Library

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Corpus Christi. In the past, this was a public holiday in Malta. To commemorate this feast, the Liturgical Art Journal published a coloured illustration showing the solemn procession of Corpus Christi held in Rome at the time of Pope Gregory XVI. What is of interest in this illustration is the fact that this was done by a Maltese artist, Salvatore Busuttil. Busuttil received a scholarship from the English Governor in Malta, Thomas Maitland, to go and study in Rome at the Accademia di San Luca. Eventually, he decided to settle in Rome. Pope Gregory XVI was pontiff between 1831 and 1846. This illustration is today part of the collection of Yale University Library in the United States. The artist describes, in a very vivid manner, the pomp and ceremony of this procession.

https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2019031