Paladini painting donated to museum

A late 16th century painting by Filippo Paladini has been donated to the National Museum of Fine Arts by historian and Judge Giovanni Bonello and his sister Anna Xuereb.

Heritage Malta, which runs the museum, said the Mystic Marriage of St Catherine of Alexandria was perhaps one of the few painted by the artist, who was born in 1544 and died in 1616.

It originally belonged to the Judge's father Vincenzo, who in 1923 founded the fine arts section within the museums' department, which later became the National Museum of Fine Arts.

Paladini is perhaps one of the most important mannerist artists to work on the islands during the late 16th century. He arrived as a galley rower but immediately attracted the Grand Master's attention, who commissioned large scale works from him, including the decorative scheme for the chapel at the Grand Master's Palace and Verdala Castle.