One by one, the seven Mattia Preti paintings adorning the Sarria church in Floriana are finding donors who generously invest funds to support their restoration.

This time, it was Paul Mifsud, managing director of Sparkasse Bank Malta plc, who offered to fund the return of the St Nicholas oil painting to its original splendour. Giuseppe Mantella Restauri has committed to complete the work within a few months.

The St Nicholas of Bari is one of the seven works painted by Mattia Preti on commission by Grandmaster Nicholas Cottoner as a pledge to the Blessed Assumption for deliverance from the plague in 1676. This particular painting depicts the Grandmaster’s patron saint who is said to have saved a group of infants from being martyred in a cauldron of boiling water. The young children appear at the foot of the saint, while on the opposite side a putto holds a sheaf of cotton, representing Grandmaster Cottoner’s coat of arms.

Din l-Art Ħelwa is grateful to Sparkasse Bank Malta plc and trusts that the new legislation regulating tax rebates on heritage restoration will encourage other serious donors to offer their support for finalising work on the last two remaining Preti paintings.