San Andrea Senior School art students recently visited the National Museum of Fine Arts and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Valletta.

The students were greeted by the museum’s senior curator Sandro Debono who showed them works by Mattia Preti, the Baroque artist responsible for decorating the ceiling of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

He explained how Preti, like other artists, made use of models and how he often produced more than one version of his paintings; sometimes facilitating his work further by making use of stencils which he would have produced.

The second part of the Valletta visit was spent at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where one of Preti’s painting, the Ecce Homo, was being restored.

Here, the students were introduced to the art of restoration with a presentation delivered by Italian restorer Giuseppe Mantella. They learnt about the laborious processes required to restore a work of art. The visit ended with a guided tour.