A 17-century painting bought by Heritage Malta for €75,000 was created by Mattia Preti’s workshop and not by the Calabrian master painter himself, a university don has said.
Keith Sciberras, head of the Department of History of Art at the University of Malta, insisted the painting was part of a replica by Preti’s workshop.
During the unveiling of the ‘self-portrait’ last week, Justice and Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said the work of art acquired by Heritage Malta was a “unique painting by Mattia Preti”.
He said the painting was bought from a public auction by Artcurial in Paris following “extensive research” by Heritage Malta.
“Just to clarify, Mattia Preti’s autograph original of the Apelles painting Campaspe in front of Alexander the Great is in a private collection in Spain,” Prof. Sciberras wrote on his Facebook page.
Mattia Preti’s autograph original is in a private collection in Spain
“The picture purchased by Heritage Malta is one-third of a workshop replica of this original. The other two sections survive – one at Ariccia (Italy), the other in a private collection. Another full-size workshop replica (also cut down) is preserved in a private collection in Malta,” he added.
Art connoisseurs and students posted comments online after Prof. Sciberras’s declaration saying the painting was an “overpriced” acquisition and that the national agency “was taken for a ride”.
“How is it possible that the minister is informed that this is a Mattia Preti original when it is clearly not,” one commentator said. “So did we spend €75,000 on a fragment of a workshop painting,” another asked.
When contacted, a spokeswoman for Dr Bonnici acknowledged the painting consisted of a fragment. However, she insisted the painting was a Preti original. “Information which Heritage Malta has states that this is a unique original painting,” the spokeswoman said.
She said that although the fragment (Campaspe) was in a public collection at Ariccia, the work acquired by Heritage Malta was another part of the original.
“Renowned Preti scholar John Spike confirmed this attribution in 1999 and also refers to the other fragment representing Alexander the Great, by then in a private collection. The ministry is informed that Prof. Spike still acknowledges this attribution to date,” she said.
“The Campaspe of Ariccia was published as autograph in a book edited by Vittorio Sgarbi (2013) and the picture will shortly go on exhibition in Wiesbaden (Germany), yet again, as an autographed Preti,” the spokeswoman said.
Contacted following the ministry's comments, Prof. Sciberras would not make any further statements.
“I wrote what I had to say,” he told the Times of Malta.
ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com