File:Giuseppe Calì, Portrait of Achille Camilleri.jpg

English: Giuseppe Calì, Portrait of Achille Camilleri, president of the Malta Chamber of Commerce 1891-1893.

oil on canvas, signed / dated 1894, 123x93cm
Location: Main Hall of the Malta Chamber of Commerce. Restored by ReCoop Ltd, 2023.

"Cali's versatility in creating a diversity of solutions for many of his portraits emerges once more in this warm- toned 1894 portrait of Achille Camilleri who, previous to his term as president between 1891 and 1893, had begun his administrative connection with the Chamber as its treasurer for the year 1889. Thus his portrait was executed only a year after his presidency was over. This supposes that Cali painted from life. It is a portrait that introduces some novelties, especially in the gesture of the finger pointing at a glass ink-well which is topped by the heraldic head of a lion, representing Her Imperial Majesty. In addition, the matt glow of the reddish background lends a quite distinctive touch to this portrait, in contrast to the rather sombre backgrounds so insistently pronounced in the Ferro and Ciantar examples.

Once again, Cali shows his powers of observation in the fleshy pouches on the face of a man well past his prime. The fuzzy beard, displayed by Achille Camilleri, not only contributes towards underlining the attention to a realistic treatment by the artist, but also highlights the contrast between the effect of light filtering through it and the more solid presence of the face, hands and the cloth-covered table. The shadow which Camilleri's bulk casts on the background wall is hardly noticeable but visually significant since it serves to provide a sense of belonging to a specific space through the connection between different planes of the picture. Finally, Camilleri's thumb pressed against the edge of the table, despite being a minor detail, also points out at the desired immobility to capture the moment." - Emmanuel Fiorentino