Mattia Preti

Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John.

Life

Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Cavalier Calabrese'' (the Calabrian Knight) after appointment as a Knight of the Order of St. John (Knights of Malta) in 1660. His early apprenticeship is said to have been with the " Caravaggist" Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, which may account for his lifelong interest in the style of Caravaggio.

Probably before 1630, Preti 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 of Guercino, Rubens, Guido Reni, and Giovanni Lanfranco. In Rome, he painted fresco cycles in the churches of Sant'Andrea della Valle and San Carlo ai Catinari. Between 1644 and 1646, he may have spent time in Venice, but remained based in Rome until 1653, returning later in 1660–61. He painted frescoes for the church of San Biagio at Modena (app. 1651–2) and participated in the fresco decoration of the Palazzo Pamphilj in Valmontone (documented 1660–61), where he worked along with Pier Francesco Mola, Gaspar Dughet, Francesco Cozza, Giovanni Battista Tassi (''il Cortonese''), and Guglielmo Cortese.

During most of 1653–1660, he worked in Naples, starting with a '' Saint Nicholas''. There he was influenced by another prominent painter of his era, Luca Giordano. Preti's 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 Capodimonte 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.

Having been made a Knight of Grace in the Order of St John, he visited the order's headquarters in Malta in 1659 and spent most of the remainder of his life there. Preti transformed the interior of St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta with a huge series of paintings on the life and martyrdom of St. John the Baptist (1661–1666). In Malta one also can find many paintings of Preti in private collections and in parish churches. His increased reputation led to an expanded circle of patrons, and he received commissions from all over Europe.

While in Malta, Preti owned a slave who modelled for his paintings.

Preti was fortunate to enjoy a long career and have a considerable artistic output. His paintings, representative of the exuberant late Baroque style, are held by many great museums, including important collections in Naples, Valletta, Palermo, and in his hometown of Taverna, Calabria.

Legacy

In the Manderaggio area of Valletta, there is a town square named after him, Mattia Preti Square (). In this square there is also a commemorative bust of him, which was unveiled by the Local Council of Valletta in 2014.

Gallery

File:Preti - sant'antonio abate.jpg, '' Sant'Antonio Abate'' c.1628, 62 x 62 cm, private collection
File:Mattia Preti - Concert - WGA18386.jpg, ''The Concert'' c.1630, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
File:Accademia - Homer by Mattia Preti.jpg, ''Homer'' c.1635, 102 x 81 cm, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
File:The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew.jpg, ''The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew'' c.1650, Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral
File:Preti, Mattia - Wedding at Cana - c. 1655.jpg, ''The Marriage at Cana'' c.1655-1660, National Gallery, London
File:Mattia Preti, Pilato si lava le mani, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.jpg, ''Pilate Washing His Hands'', c. 1663, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
File:Mattia Preti 002.jpg, ''Calling the Apostle Matthew'' c. 1630-1640, 104 x 164 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
File:Crocifissione_di_Pietro_-_Mattia_Preti.jpg, ''The Martyrdom of Saint Peter'', c.1630-1650, Museum of Grenoble
File:Mattia Preti 003.jpg, ''Unbelieving Thomas'', c. 1656-1660, 187 x 145 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum
File:Cristo en gloria con santos (Mattia Preti).jpg, ''Christ in Glory with Saints'', 1660-1661, Museo del Prado, Madrid
File:Mattia Preti, Tomiri immerge la testa di Ciro in un otre di sangue, Louvre.jpg, '' Tomyris immerses Cyrus's head in a skin bag of blood'', 1685-89, 174 x 213, Louvre, Paris
File:La Mort de Sophonisbe - Mattia Preti.jpg, '' The Death of Sophonisba'' c.1660-1670, 198 x 174 cm, Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
File:4DPict.jpg, ''The Vanity'', 1650-1651, 93,5 x 65 cm, Uffizi, Florence
File:Mattia Preti 004.jpg, ''A Mother Entrusting Her Sons to Christ'' c. 1635-36, 143 x 193 cm, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
File:La cena del ricco Epulone - M. Preti.jpg, '' The Banquet of the Rich Glutton'' c.1665, 148 x 200 cm, Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Rome
File:Mattia Preti - Diogenes and Plato - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Plato and Diogenes'' c.1688, 101 x 151 cm, Capitoline Museums, Rome
File:Matti Preti, Liberazione di San Pietro, Dresda, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.jpg, ''The Deliverance of St. Peter from Prison'', c. 1650, 205 x 226 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
File:Mattia Preti - St. George on Horseback - WGA18397.jpg, '' Saint George on Horseback'' 1658, 275 x 207 cm, St. John's Co-Cathedral
File:St John the Baptist Wearing the Red Tabard of the Order of St John - Mattia Preti.jpg, '' St John the Baptist Wearing the Red Tabard of the Order of St John'' 1671, 98 x 78 cm, National Museum of Fine Arts, Malta
File:Saint Veronica with the Veil LACMA M.84.20 (1 of 2).jpg, ''Saint Veronica with the Veil'', 1655-1660, 100 x 74 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
File:Mattia Preti - Saint Paul the Hermit - 1969.109 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tiff, ''Saint Paul the Hermit'', c. 1662-1664, 103 x 76 cm, Cleveland Museum of Art
File:Mattia Preti - San Giovanni Battista Predicazione.jpg, ''St. John the Baptist Preaching'', c. 1665, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
File:Mattia Preti - Adorazione dei pastori, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.jpg, ''Adoration of the shepherds'', c. 1678, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
File:Giuditta e Oloferne - Mattia Preti.jpg, ''Judith and Holofernes'', c. 1653-1654, 186 x 143 cm, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
File:Mattia Preti - Baldassarre's Feast - WGA18380.jpg, ''Baldassarre's Feast'', 1653-1659, 202 x 297 cm, Museo di Capodimonte
File:I quattro evangelisti - Mattia Preti.jpg, ''The four Evangelists'', 1650, 153 x 207 cm, Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo
File:Cristo e l'adultera - Mattia Preti.jpg, ''Christ and the adulteress'', 1650, 85 x 117 cm, Palazzo Abatellis
File:Basilica di Sant'Andrea della Valle 23.jpg, ''Martyrdom of Saint Andrew'', 1650-1651, Sant'Andrea della Valle, Rome
File:Preti-figliuolProdigo.jpg, ''Return of the Prodigal Son'', 1658, 202 x 285 cm, Royal Palace of Naples
File:Mattia Preti 007.jpg, ''Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius Fleeing Troy'', 1630, 86 x 153 cm, Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Rome
File:St Sebastian c1660 Mattia Preti.jpg, '' Saint Sebastian'', 1660, 240 x 169 cm, Museo di Capodimonte
File:Preti Adoration of the Shepherds.jpg, ''Adoration of the Shepherds'', 1645, 148 x 197 cm, National Museum, Warsaw
File:Martirio di santa Caterina - M. Preti.jpg, ''Martyrdom of Saint Catherine'', 1659, 365 x 267 cm, Church of Saint Catherine of Italy, Valletta, Malta
File:Mattia Preti, Belisario riceve l' elemosina, Museo Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.jpg, ''Belisarius receiving alms'', 1665-1669, 152 x 198 cm, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

References

Further reading

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External links

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Christ Seats the Child in the Midst of the Disciples
', c. 1680-85. Museum & Gallery, Inc. Greenville, SC

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preti, Mattia
1613 births
1699 deaths
People from the Province of Catanzaro
17th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
Italian Baroque painters
Knights of Malta
Caravaggisti
Catholic painters
Italian slave owners