Maurice de Giorgio – his art concealed

I had known Maurice de Giorgio for several years, visited his home several times, worked with him on several projects and travelled with him on several occasions. 
It was typical of his elegant self-effacement– his sense of aesthetic modesty– that he never gave me, or anyone else I know, an inkling what an accomplished creative artist he was too. Maurice pulled down the curtain on his high-performance life exactly four years ago, on May 28, 2015, just in time to savour the publication of a book in his honour, A Timeless Gentleman, which I, as editor of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, had the gratification of putting together conspiratorially behind his back, with the passionate assistance of 42 of his fans, devotees and admirers. Only through the contribution of one of these, Nicholas de Piro’s essay Kissed by the Muses, was I introduced to an unknown facet of Maurice – the carefully concealed artist. 

We know nothing of Maurice’s training in art and none of his known biographies shed any light on it or refer to it at all. I doubt he was self-taught; creativity is mostly innate and no academy will instil it when it is absent. But technique is acquired through teaching and training.