Mattia Preti: Italian Baroque Artist by Kathryn Gauci

Mattia Preti: Italian Baroque Artist by Kathryn Gauci

Detail: Mattia Preti’s Self Image - a painting by the southern Italian artist acquired by Heritage Malta. Photo:Times of Malta.

Having recently returned from Malta, I was inspired the work of Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) whose work illustrates the exuberant style of the late Baroque. He was such a prolific artist and his work defines St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. Preti was born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Italy. He is called Il Cavalier Calabrese (the Calabrian Knight) after his appointment as a Knight of the Order of St. John (Knights of Malta) in 1660.  His apprenticeship is said to have been with Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, a follower of Caravaggio. Sometime before 1630, he joined his brother Gregorio (also a painter), in Rome where he became familiar with the techniques of Caravaggio and his school as well as with the work others masters at the time such as Rubens, Guido Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco, and other notable artists of the day.

In Rome, he painted fresco cycles in the Saint’Andrea della Valle and San Carlo ai Catinari  Between 1644 and 1646, he spent time in Venice but remained based in Rome until 1653, returning later in 1660–61. He also painted frescoes for the church of San Biagio at Modena (1651–2) and participated in the fresco decoration of Palazzo Pamphilj in Valmontone (1660–61)

 

Allegoria dell’Aria. Palazzo Pamphilj in Valmontone

 

During most of 1653–1660, Preti worked in Naples and was influenced by another prominent painter of his era, Luca Giordano. His major works include a series of large fresco ex-votos depicting the Virgin or saints delivering people from the plague, which were painted on seven city gates and are now lost - two sketches for them are in the museum in Naples, including a bozzetto of the Virgin with the baby Jesus looming over the dying and their burial parties which envisions a Last Judgement presided over by a woman. Preti also won a commission to supervise the construction, carving, and gilding for the nave and transept of  San Pietro a Maiella, along with producing a Judith and Holofernes and Saint John the Baptist, both still in Naples

 

Saint Veronica with the Veil

Such religious themes were prevalent in strong catholic countries like Italy and Malta at the time, and as a consequence he was made a Knight of Grace in the Order of St John when he visited the Order's headquarters in Malta in 1659. Preti was to spend most of the remainder of his life there. He was commissioned to paint the entire barrel-vaulted ceiling of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta and transformed it into a luminous, airy space filled with angels and saints, together with a huge series of paintings on the life and martyrdom of St John the Baptist (1661–1666). His work displays the dramatic chiaroscuro – a feature that defines this period – with the colours of the Venetian and Neapolitan tradition.

 

Ceiling in St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta

 

 

 

Altarpiece. Cathedral.

His work in the cathedral also has an unusual technique – oil on stone – and his scenes portray an immense vigour and dynamic power, almost unparalleled, even in Italy in the second half of the 17^th-Century. He used quick, zigzag brush strokes and never made preparatory drawings, preferring to go over his work to correct it.

Preti certainly must have impressed his patrons so much that he was also given the task of designing the rich, gold decorations on the walls, along with several paintings in the Oratory where we see Caravaggio’s masterpiece, The Beheading of St John the Baptist. 

 

Boethius and Philosophy. It is believed that the painting was commissioned by Andrea di Giovanni, Knight of the Order of Malta. By the early nineteenth century it formed part of the collection of the Palace of the Grand Master of the same order. Photo: Times of Malta.

 

 

Saint George and the Dragon - Chapel of the Tongue of Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre, Co-Cathedral of St. John, Valletta, Malta

 

 

Preti's largest painting in Malta in the Church of St Lawrence, Vittoriosa, is being restored thanks to BOV - the bank of Valletta.

 

In his forty years in Malta, Preti left an impressive four hundred works. He not only painted for the Order, but for parish churches in the local communities too, leaving these small villages and hamlets with  priceless works of arts. Other paintings are in private collections. His increased reputation led to an expanded circle of patrons, and he received commissions from all over Europe. Preti enjoyed a long career with a considerable artistic output. His paintings are held by many great museums, including important collections in Naples, Valletta, Palermo, and his hometown of Taverna in Calabria.

 

Calling the Apostle Matthew c. 1630-1640, 104 x 164 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

 

The Concert 1630 The Hermitage Museum.

 

 Mattia Preti is buried in the Co-Cathedral in a magnificent vault alongside other Knights of the Order.