Fine arts auction house Christie’s might have misattributed a 17th century painting to followers of Mattia Preti rather than the Italian artist himself after its restoration revealed a painting of a much higher quality.

The painting is featured in a newly-published book titled Antiquing in Malta: the De Vallette helmet and other finds by Robert Attard and Romina Azzopardi.

The book comprises an assortment of items, all of which – barring the helmet of Grand Master Jean de Valette – belong to Maltese private collections and are not accessible to the public. Most of the featured items have never been “published” before and are behind closed doors.

In 2008, Christie’s had auctioned a painting entitled Judith with the head of Holofernes, which it conservatively attributed to the Circle of Mattia Preti. Fortunately, the highest bidder was Maltese and the Judith is back in Malta.

Was this painting also executed by Mattia Preti or was it merely painted by a member of his bottega?

When it was professionally restored, it revealed a painting of a much higher quality than how it had appeared in Christie’s catalogue. Whoever painted the piece managed to grasp the potent imagery and dramatic effect.

“Was this painting also executed by Mattia Preti or was it merely painted by a member of his bottega?” Dr Attard questions.

The left hand side of the De Valette helmet (courtesy of Robert Sandri, Beni Culturali).

The world of attributions is a controversial one. Getting it wrong with attributions can come at a price. In 2013, Sotheby’s was sued over claims that it misattributed a work – The Cardsharps – to a follower of Caravaggio rather than the Italian painter himself, costing the seller millions of pounds.

The book has a chapter dedicated specifically to de Valette’s helmet, which Dr Attard had located in an Italian museum.

Writing in the book’s introduction, historian Giovanni Bonello describes the moment when Dr Attard discovered the helmet or morion in 2013, a discovery that was reported in this newspaper.

“Dr Attard never gets carried away irretrievably but I have rarely seen him as close to that as when he recently discovered the morion of Grand Master Jean de Valette in a Roman museum,” Dr Bonello writes.

“That moment held the elation of a significant sighting, followed by the mortification of having his achievement questioned and sidelined.

“That is the fate of pioneers, to be understood by a few and misunderstood by all the others. His quest for the truth about that hallowed helmet is one of the highlights of this book.”

The helmet was donated to the museum by Prince Ladislao Odescalchi in 1959. Dr Attard looks into the issue of how the helmet was removed from the collection in Malta.

Odescalchi had connections with a certain Sir Guy Francis Laking, who, in 1902, was commissioned by the Governor of Malta to catalogue the Maltese collection. His detailed catalogue does not refer to the grand master’s helmet.

That moment held the elation of a significant sighting, followed by the mortification of having his achievement questioned

Maltese history remembers Laking as the saviour of the Maltese Armoury; had it not been for him, the Palace Armoury Museum would not exist.

But Laking’s reputation was posthumously tainted by a series of sinister allegations; he was not just a government employee, he was a collector too. Collecting and curating should not go hand in hand, Dr Attard argues.

Among numerous items, the book also features a letter written by a veteran of the Malta convoys while convalescing at the General Hospital of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in Malta. The history of the Malta convoy is primarily a story of heroic feats and bravery but also of human suffering.

The author of the letter was a certain Paddy Tighe, son of an Oxford surgeon named C. Tighe.

In the letter, Tighe describes how he was seriously wounded while operating an anti-aircraft gun. A nose cap went off in Tighe’s hand, blowing off some of his fingers. He tells his father of the treatment he was receiving at the Malta hospital.

Another letter featured in the book was penned by a Crimean War soldier en route to Malta and addressed to his mother.

The Crimean War is another event that requires further research having left such a deep impact on Maltese history, Dr Attard says.

On their way to the killing fields of Balaclava, thousands of British soldiers came to Malta, bringing their stories of war with them.

War letters written by Crimean War soldiers contain deep insights into the tribulations of Queen Victoria’s soldiers.

The short, ungrammatical letter written by Lance Corporal Joseph Blackburn to his mother in 1856 refers to some serious matrimonial problems: “I received a letter from my wife and I read part of it and then I burnt it for it was not worth reading so you must tell her that she must not write no more unless she can write a better [letter] than her last.”