Self Portrait, Mattia Preti.

A Mattia Preti painting and its preparatory drawing are on display side by side for the first time in Malta at the international exhibition Mattia Preti – Faith and Humanity.

In the late 17th century, the Spanish Knight of Malta Manuel Arrias left the island to take office as Archbishop of Seville, Spain. His luggage included a collection of art works, among which a number of works by Mattia Preti. Following his death, the paintings became property of the diocese of Seville.

One particular painting from Arrias’ estate, which shows the beheaded corpse of St John the Baptist, remains hanging at the Archbishop’s Palace in Seville. It is rarely seen by scholars let alone the public, and also has never been exhibited outside Spain.

Preti’s preparatory drawing for this painting was acquired for the Museums’ Department by the first curator of fine arts, Vincenzo Bonello, in the early 1930s. The drawing was executed by Preti on the back of another drawing, featuring a preliminary study for one of the figures painted on the vault of St John’s co-Cathedral. Preti would have used his drawings as reference when painting his renowned works and also reutilised the back of others for the studies of his later works.

Both drawing and painting are being exhibited for the first time next to each other after more than three centuries, when these were first together in Preti’s workshop. This is a unique opportunity to study painting and drawing at close quarters and compare Preti’s drawing techniques developed for different media and artworks.

The painting is indeed gruesome. It represents a beheaded corpse of the Baptist lying on the floor at a very oblique angle. The severed trunk of the neck stands for the morbid subject, likewise represented by Preti in his Judith and Holopherenes at Capodimonte Museum (Naples) and in the internal façade of St John’s co-Cathedral. Its stark realism recalls Caravaggio and his followers, who also painted such subjects with such a violent flair.

The loan was made possible thanks to the assistance and technical support of the Spanish Embassy in Malta.

Mattia Preti – Faith and Humanity shows at the State Rooms, President’s Palace, Valletta, until July 7.

Concert of organ and choral music to celebrate Preti

The Rotary Club Malta, in conjunction with Rotary Club Cefalù and St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation, is organising a programme of music, featuring organ and choral works, to celebrate the 400th anniversary from Preti’s birth.

The concert will feature music from an array of renowned composers of sacred music, from Renaissance to modern day, spanning over 450 years. The programme includes both Maltese and Sicilian musicians, to underscore the cultural bond between the two islands.

Organist Diego Cannizzaro will perform works by Scarlatti, Amendola, Bossi and Guilmant. The St Paul Choral Society, directed by Hugo Agius-Muscat, will perform carefully chosen works ranging from the early Renaissance Italian masters, Palestrina and Viadana, to Maltese baroque music exponents, Zerafa and Azzopardi, Mendelsshon-Bartholdy and Stanford, to the more modern Duruflè, Scerri, Jenkins and Rutter. Elizabeth Conrad will accompany at the organ.

The concert is being held in aid of Dar il-Kaptan, which provides a respite home to assist persons with disability. Entrance is free, but a booklet with programme notes is available for a donation.

A number of seats will be reserved for patrons who wish to book for the dinner and/or the reception which will be held at the Chamber of Commerce building in Valletta after the concert. This will give music lovers an opportunity to meet and discuss the performance.

For reservations send an e-mail to tonio.cuschieri@gmail.com.

The concert will be held on May 25 at St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valetta, at 7.30pm.

Preti restorer to give talk at Italian Cultural Institute

Preti’s works will also be the focus of a talk being given by restorer Giuseppe Mantella at the Italian Cultural Institute.

Mantella, who is internationally known in the restoration area and who has already been a guest at the Institute, studied in Rome and was involved in several projects in China, Israel, Italy and Malta. He has been working in Malta on Preti-related projects since 2005 and has restored two of the artist’s paintings, the counter-façade of St John Co-Cathedral, the Martyrdom of St Catherine and the cupola of the Church of St Catherine of Italy in Valletta.

During his lecture he will focus on Preti and the restoration of the church of St Catherine of Italy.

The lecture is being held on Tuesday at 6.30pm.