Imagine lying on your back looking up at the painted barrel vaulted ceiling of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta.
As you focus on the episodes from the life of St John the Baptist, patron saint of the Order of the Knights that bears his name, you lie mesmerised by the work of Mattia Preti (1613-1699), who was one of the greatest Baroque grand masters of the time.
Painting the ceiling for free earned Preti – who is known also as the knight from Calabria – a coveted promotion within the ranks of the Order.
Preti, who spent his last 40 years in Malta, turned the austere interior of the conventual church of the Order into a multi-coloured three-dimensional jewel.
The walled cities and fortified towers built by the knights to defend the island implanted into the minds of people the notion that they were “bastions” of the Catholic faith. A religion that lies dormant at times but erupts with a vengeance when it is discussed both privately and publicly.
Preti is currently being remembered with an exhibition called Preti 10x10 Taverna–Preti-Malta; Ten Maltese and Ten Calabrian Artists in Discourse With Mattia Preti.
The 10 Maltese paintings are on display at the Museo Civico in Taverna, Calabria while the 10 Calabrian are on show at the National Museum of Fine Arts in South Street, Valletta, which houses one of the biggest Preti collections. Three of the Calabrian artists will be taking part at the next biennale.
Sandro Debono, who is in charge of the Museum of Fine Arts and curated this showcase with his counterpart Giuseppe Valentino in Taverna, said the 20 artists confront Preti in a modern idiom.
“Preti is a product of his times. Most of his works are produced in reaction to the exigencies of the religion and faith. Our identity coupled with religion manifests such a strong bond because we are at a frontier. Bastions have now been symbolically breached to let in all sorts of traffic including modernism yet religion and faith are still manifest and show similar concerns to what Preti reacted to,” Mr Debono said in describing the showcase.
The exhibition in Valletta runs until Friday. Opening times are 9 a.m to 4.30 p.m. Throughout August the paintings will be on show in the Heritage Malta office at the Cittadella, Gozo. Entrance is free. The show in Taverna will run until September 24.