Joseph a.k.a. Giuseppe Cassar, photographer and watercolour artist, was born in Hamrun on 7th August 1917. He started drawing at the age of seven under the tutorship of artist Arturo Galdes. Cassar attended St. Aloysius’ College in Birkirkara, from where he proceeded to the University of Rome in 1936 to study medicine. After Italy’s declaration of war he was interned throughout the years 1940 to 1944, for his refusal to give up his status as a British subject. During those years, Cassar was commissioned to draw portraits of his fellow prisoners. After Italy’s capitulation, he managed to escape by crossing the war-front from the Nazi-controlled north to the safety of Florence with the help of partisan friends, among whom was his future wife Alda Manghi from Reggio Emilia. In 1945 he took over his father’s photo studio in Hamrun, where he worked uninterruptedly until his retirement in 1981. From then on, until shortly before his death, he greatly developed his skills in watercolour painting. He held several successful solo watercolour exhibitions in the 1980s and ‘90s, such as at the Cathedral Museum in Mdina, Wignacourt Museum in Rabat, Museum of Fine Arts and other venues in Valletta, as well as in Cividale del Friuli near Udine, Italy, besides participating in several local collective exhibitions. A number of his photographic works depicting ecclesiastical architecture were exhibited at St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum in Valletta, while an exhibition of a large number of his Maltese scenic photos was also held in Bavaria, Germany. The artist’s works and profile have been published in various prestigious books. Giuseppe Cassar passed away on 9th November 2002.