With reference to Philippe Agius’s letter requesting information on painter Gioacchino Loretta, while, so far, there is no reliable and confirmed data regarding his birth and burial place, there is no doubt that, beside the main altar of the Pietà chapel, dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, as Agius points out, there are also other paintings found in Malta that are definitely attributed to this artist.

The main altarpiece the church of St Augustine in Victoria dates from Mattia Preti’s last years, yet, stylistically, the painting seems to be mostly by the hand of Loretta, one of Preti’s assistants, though Preti seems to have added some proper touches.

Other works by Loretta include a painting we were to see later at the old Xewkija church, at a time when the altarpiece of the church of Our Lady of Sorrows in Pietà was completed.

Paintings that can be attributed to Loretta, in collaboration with Preti, include the main altarpiece of the parish church of St George, in Qormi, one in Lija, at St Francis in Valletta and the Mdina cathedral, where the side paintings are by Loretta.