Mattia Preti

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Self-portrait Mattia Pretis in the picture sermon John the Baptist
San Domenico, Taverna

Mattia Preti (* 24. February 1613 in Taverna , Calabria , † 3. January 1699 in Valletta , Malta ) was an Italian painter of the Baroque and knights of Malta , which especially in Naples , Rome worked and Malta. Because Preti came from the southern Italian Calabria, he was also called " Il Cavalier Calabrese ".

Life

Mattia Preti came from the respected and long-established Presbiteri family and was born on February 24, 1613 in Taverna (Calabria) as one of 6 children of Cesare Preti and Innocenza Schipano. He had three sisters and two brothers and initially received lessons in grammar and sciences. He also showed a talent in drawing at an early age and was also a friend of the art of fencing , which he practiced with noble friends.

The incredulous Thomas , 187 × 145.5 cm,
Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna

According to the tradition of his biographer Bernardo De Dominici , Mattia Preti had an eventful, sometimes Rocambolesque life, but some anecdotes are either not documented or refuted.

At the age of 17 he went to Rome in 1630 after a short stay in Naples to his older brother Gregorio (1603–1672), who had lived in the Eternal City since 1624 and was already established in society. Mattia apparently received his first training from his brother, with whom he also worked during his time in Rome. He also received classes in mathematics , architecture , perspective and history . If you can believe De Dominici, Mattia limited himself exclusively to drawing for a long time, although he already came into contact with important artists such as Domenichino and Lanfranco in Rome , and according to his own statement, especially the frescoes by Annibale Carracci in the Galleria Farnese and the stamps of Raphael admired. After Mattia saw a picture of Santa Petronilla by Guercino in St. Peter's Basilica , he was so enthusiastic that he drove to Cento and became his student. According to De Dominici, he allegedly did not paint his first color-colored picture - a Saint Magdalena - until he was 26 (1639) and after being asked by Guercino.

This was followed by trips to Parma and Venice - where he mainly studied the works of Veronese and is said to have painted some pictures that have not survived - and later he was also in Milan and Genoa and even in Paris and Antwerp (with Rubens ) , but these trips are not documented.

After several years of absence, he returned to Rome. There he painted u. a. some pictures for Pope Urban VIII and Olimpia Maidalchini , who, in gratitude, promoted his appointment as Knight of Malta (in the rank of Magistral Knight). After he was able to provide the necessary evidence of nobility, the solemn ceremony took place on October 31, 1642 in the church of Sant'Anna di Borgo in Rome. There were other paintings for Roman nobles, such as for Cardinal Rospigliosi , who had promoted him earlier.

According to an anecdote reported by De Dominicis, Mattia Preti, now known as Cavalier Calabrese, got involved in a public duel with a German warrior , and as a result the imperial ambassador allegedly demanded Preti's extradition and his death. The Pope had therefore secretly allowed him to flee by ship to Malta, where he was insulted and challenged by a knight because of his painting - there was another duel in the course of which the other was killed. For fear of being convicted by the Grand Master of the Maltese, Preti fled across the sea to Livorno , where he went to the Spanish royal court in Madrid with the papal nuncio .

Martyrdom of St Andrew (1651),
Sant'Andrea della Valle , Rome

After the death of Urban VIII, Preti was called back to Rome by the next Pope Innocent X Pamphili . Since the Roman painting was now completely mastered by Pietro da Cortona and Lanfranco, according to De Dominici he received only a few commissions and finally went back to his teacher Guercino in Cento. This gave him an order for the dome frescoes in the Carmelite Church (or San Biagio) of Modena , with a representation of the Trinity with the Virgin and St. Carmelites. This was followed by (undocumented) stays in Bologna , Florence and Venice.

Eventually Preti returned to Rome and made a name for himself through various outstanding paintings. In 1653 he was accepted into the Accademia di San Luca for his drawing Triumph des Oriris and Niobe . Other important commissions in Rome were the main altar in San Pantaleone and the three large paintings completed on April 8, 1651 with scenes from the life of St. Andrew in the apse of Sant'Andrea della Valle , which he made given the enormous dimensions of the church and (allegedly) painted larger than life on the advice of Pietro da Cortona . It was precisely this gigantic depiction that aroused so much criticism from contemporaries that Preti ultimately turned away from Rome, disappointed.

For the period from October 4, 1651 to March 28, 1652, there is evidence of Preti's stay at the court of Francesco I in Modena , where he created works for various churches, including frescoes in a side chapel of the cathedral . However, only the already mentioned dome frescoes in the Carmelite Church of San Biagio have survived. Returning to Rome in 1652, St. Charles Borromeo distributed alms in San Carlo ai Catinari .

Madonna of Constantinople , 1656,
Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte , Naples

According to recent research, he was in Naples from 1653 . In the Church of San Domenico Soriano he painted the Glory of St. Nicolaus of Bari (1653) and spectacular dome frescoes (1655?), Which were among his most important works, but have now disappeared. There followed more paintings in various other churches in Naples, u. a. in San Pietro a Majella .

When the plague struck Naples in 1656 , several major painters on the local art scene died. In November of the same year Preti was commissioned to paint the seven city gates with frescoes of the Madonna with the baby Jesus and with Neapolitan saints ; In addition to the figures of saints, there were also scenes with plague victims and sick people. Of these frescoes, which were one of his main works, only the Porta San Gennaro remains very rudimentary today (as of 2019), there are also two bozzetti in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples and various preparatory sketches.
At the same time he also created a Madonna of Constantinople as an ex voto for his cousins ​​Schipano, who also lived in Naples (today in the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte , Naples).

Herod's Supper , 1656–1661, oil on canvas, 177.8 × 252.1 cm,
Toledo Museum of Art , Toledo ( Ohio )

Even after the epidemic, catastrophic conditions and famine prevailed in Naples, Preti received numerous commissions for paintings from various patrons, such as Bernardino Corrado, which were greatly admired by the city's art connoisseurs and painters; while the young Luca Giordano behaved rather negatively, Preti was highly praised by the already aged Andrea Vaccaro .
Among his clients in Naples were also rich Dutch and Flemish people such as the merchant Gaspar Roomer and the Marquis Ferdinand van den Eynden. Towards the end of the 1650s or around 1660 an important correspondence began with the art collector Antonio Ruffo in Messina , for whose gallery in Messina he created a whole series of paintings during his Maltese time.

Finally Mattia Preti's reputation reached the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta Giovanni Battista Brancaccio, who ordered a painting of St. George from him as a first sample , which was praised by Luca Giordano and his followers. The picture came - together with a St. Francis Xavier - only under one of the following grand masters, Martin de Redin , to Malta , where it was installed in the Concathedral of San Giovanni in La Valletta , and was so popular that the artist was immediately followed Malta invited.

Baptism of Christ , fresco ,
St. John's Co-Cathedral , Valletta, Malta

In Malta he was received in 1661 by Martin de Redin and received the order for the large fresco decoration of the co- cathedral San Giovanni ( St. John's Co-Cathedral ), for which he was promoted to "cavaliere di grazia" and which he did on his own Cost painted. They are considered his masterpiece. According to modern research, he began painting on September 18, 1661 and finished it on December 20, 1666 “... to the fullest satisfaction” (“ terminata con intera sodisfatione ”). For the same church he also created several altarpieces in oil. A portrait of Grand Master Martin de Redin also hangs in the sacristy.

From then on, Preti lived in Malta until his death, where he painted hundreds of pictures in the Maltese churches in the following decades. In the capital La Valletta, works in the basilica of Madonna del Carmelo and in the churches of San Antonio, San Francesco d'Assisi and in the Jesuit church, as well as in the palace of the Grand Master of the Maltese, are particularly noteworthy. Also the church dell'Assunta in Lija , Sant 'Andrea in Luqa and Santa Caterina in Zurrieq .

In addition, he also created commissioned works for various places on the continent in Italy and throughout Europe, such as some paintings for San Pietro a Majella that had already been started in Naples and several exquisite pictures for churches in Siena , including the sermon of San Bernardino of Siena for a chapel of the cathedral , the canonization of St. Catherine for the Carmelite Church and the main altar of the Jesuit Church.

Mattia Preti, the Cavalier Calabrese , died in Malta on January 3, 1699.

Preti's students include Raimondo and Maria De Dominici, father and aunt of his biographer Bernardo De Dominici, who probably met him in his youth. Also the Neapolitans Giuseppe Trombatore and Domenico Viola, and the Maltese painters Giovan Battista and Giuseppe Caloriti, Giovan Paolo Chiesa, Giuseppe Cianferli, Giuseppe d'Arena , Demetrio Farrugia, Gioacchino Loretta, Pedro Nuñez de Villavicencio.

plant

Homer
Accademia (Venice)

Mattia Preti is one of the most outstanding painters of the Italian Seicento . His work knows different influences and phases and is particularly influenced by his teachers Guercino , Domenichino and Lanfranco , as well as the tenebrosome painting of the Caravaggists - which was formative for all Neapolitan and southern Italian baroque painting anyway. The research on his collaboration with his long-forgotten brother Gregorio Preti is still in the early stages, but who also played a not entirely unimportant role in his early days and in Rome (until 1653). Roberto Longhi (1913, 1916, 1943) and Giuliano Briganti (1951) also pointed to influences from some French Caravaggists living in Rome, such as Valentin de Boulogne , Nicolas Tournier or Nicolas Régnier . This can be seen in a whole series of paintings with subjects such as musicians (or so-called concerts, among others in: Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza ; private collection, Naples; Hermitage Saint Petersburg ) or players (among others Gioco di dama , Oxford, Ashmolean Museum and others). He also created imaginary portraits of philosophers (e.g. Homer in the Gallerie dell'Accademia , Venice) and scenes from the Gospels and from the Old Testament .

Typical of Preti's style is a "heroic" and dramatic naturalism with fully plastic figures and strong effects of light and shadow. In female and youthful figures often a very pale, so pale falls flesh tones on. His Neapolitan phase is considered particularly fruitful and expressive and he exerted a not inconsiderable influence on later Neapolitan painters, from Luca Giordano to Francesco Solimena , who was referred to as " Cavalier Calabrese nobilitato " based on Preti (De Dominici, 1742–1745 , 2008, p. 722).

Preti's main and masterpiece are the paintings in St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, the former religious order of the Order of Malta. This shows a clear influence from Veronese but also from Pietro da Cortona. Portraits of saints can be seen in these frescoes, but also of some of the Grand Masters of the Order of Malta, such as Raphael Cotoner (1660 to 1663) and Nicolas Cotoner (1663 to 1680) and others. The rest of the magnificent decoration of the Co-Cathedral was also designed by Preti.

Adoration of the Shepherds , around 1645 (?), Oil on canvas, 148.5 × 197 cm,
National Museum Warsaw
Tobias heals his father's blindness ,
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Transfiguration of Christ with saints , 1660–61, oil on canvas, 220 × 253 cm,
Museo del Prado , Madrid

In museums (selection)

Italy

Other countries

A Turk cutting tobacco ,
Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York

In churches (selection)

Christ on the Cross with St. Franciscans , 350 × 200 cm, 1657,
San Lorenzo Maggiore , Naples
Maria Immaculata , 1677–78,
Chiesa dell'Immacolata Concezione (gen .: Chiesa di Sarria), Floriana (Malta)

Italy

  • Baptism of St. Augustine , Sant 'Antonio Abate, Tortoreto ,
  • St. Andrew , Court Church, Lucerna,
  • The Holy Trinity with Saints Barontus and Desiderius (Altar by Giovanni Foresi), Pistoia (1647),
  • Procession standard with St. Martin (recto) and Christ Salvator Mundi (verso), for the Confraternita del SS. Sacramento, Abbey of San Martino al Cimino (1650),
  • Dome frescoes in the Carmelite Church of San Biagio, Modena
  • Scenes from the life of St. Andrew ( erection of the cross , martyrdom and burial ), Sant'Andrea della Valle , Rome (1651)
  • Glory of St. Nicolaus of Bari , San Domenico Soriano , Naples (1653)
  • Christ on the Cross with St. Franciscans , 350 × 200 cm, San Lorenzo Maggiore , Naples (1657)
  • Presentation of the scapular to St. Simon Stock , Santa Maria del Carmine Maggiore , Naples
  • Canonization of St. Catherine , San Domenico, Siena
  • Sermon of St. Bernard , Siena Cathedral
  • Transfiguration of St. Ignazius , San Vigilio, Siena
  • Glory of St. Nicolaus of Bari , Museo civico, Fano
  • Sermon of John the Baptist with self-portrait , San Domenico, Taverna
  • Adoration of the Magi , Saint-Jean, Friborg
  • Christ before Herod & erection of the cross , parish church of San Martino, Sambughè (near Treviso ),
  • Blessed Gaetano Thiene and Andrea d'Avellino in the Glorie , San Nicolò all'Arena, Verona

Malta

  • Martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria , Chiesa di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria di Lingua d'Italia, La Valletta , Malta (1659)
  • Fresco decor (1661–1666) and various altarpieces in St. John's Co-Cathedral , La Valletta, Malta
  • Martyrdom of St. Catherine , Chiesa di Santa Caterina, Zurrico, Malta ,
  • Maria Immaculata (1677–78), Chiesa dell'Immacolata Concezione (gen .: Chiesa di Sarria), Floriana , Malta

literature

  • "Preti, Mattia", in: Lexikon der Kunst , Vol. 9, Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen, 1994, p. 290
  • Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, online ( accessed March 2, 2019; main source of this article)
  • Rosanna De Gennaro: "PRETI, Mattia, detto il Cavalier Calabrese", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 85, 2016, online on "Treccani" (as of March 2, 2019; main source of this article)
  • Dominic Cutajar: History and Artworks of St. John's Church in Valletta , 1989
  • K. Sciberras: Mattia Preti: the triumphant manner; with a catalog of his works in Malta , La Valletta, 2012
  • John Thomas Spike: Mattia Preti: i documenti , ed. v. JT Spike, Florence 1998 (with bibliography)
  • John Thomas Spike: Mattia Preti: Catalogo ragionato dei dipinti , Florence 1999
  • John Thomas Spike: A brush with passion. Mattia Preti (1613-1699) (catalog, 2013-2014), (ed. By JT Spike, E. Harrington, K. Sciberras), Williamsburg 2013
  • Mattia Preti: il Cavalier Calabrese (catalog, Catanzaro), ed. v. G. Ceraudo, C. Strinati and L. Spezzaferro, Naples 1999
  • N. Spinosa, M. Utili & A. Mazza (eds.): Mattia Preti tra Roma, Napoli e Malta (catalog), Naples, 1999
  • Rossella Vodret & Giorgio Leone: Gregorio Preti, Calabrese (1603-1672). Un problema aperto (catalog for an exhibition in the Palazzo in Cosenza) Silvana editoriale. ISBN 88-8215-759-8
  • Christophe Castandet: "Gregorio Preti, calabrese (1603-1672), un problema aperto", November 5, 2004 (summary of the exhibition catalog by R. Vodret & G. Leone), online at La Tribune de l'Art ( French ; accessed on March 4, 2019)

Web links

Commons : Mattia Preti  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c “Preti, Mattia”, in: Lexikon der Kunst , Vol. 9, Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen, 1994, p. 290
  2. ↑ ie as " Knight (or Cavalier ) from Calabria"
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad Rosanna De Gennaro: "PRETI, Mattia, detto il Cavalier Calabrese", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 85, 2016, online on “Treccani” (viewed March 2, 2019)
  4. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864
  5. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 6
  6. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 6-7
  7. ↑ An uncle on my mother's side, from the Schipano family, lived in Naples. Rosanna De Gennaro: “PRETI, Mattia, detto il Cavalier Calabrese”, in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 85, 2016, online on “Treccani” (seen on March 2, 2019)
  8. ↑ a b c Christophe Castandet: Gregorio Preti, calabrese (1603-1672) - un problema aperto , November 5, 2004 (summary of the exhibition catalog of the same name by R. Vodret & G. Leone), online at La Tribune de l'Art ( French ; accessed on March 4, 2019)
  9. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Notes della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 7
  10. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 10
  11. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 8
  12. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 10–12, also p. 29
  13. ^ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 10-12
  14. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 12-13
  15. ↑ A stay in Venice is also attested by his epitaph and a few other facts, among others. a. also through stylistic borrowings from Veronese (e.g. in the frescoes of St. John's Co-Cathedral in La Valletta). Rosanna De Gennaro: "PRETI, Mattia, detto il Cavalier Calabrese", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 85, 2016, online on "Treccani" (seen on March 2, 2019)
  16. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Notes della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 14-16
  17. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 16
  18. ^ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 17-19; here: p. 19
  19. ↑ Although the challenger managed to escape. Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 20-22; here: p. 22
  20. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Notes della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 20-22; here: p. 22
  21. ^ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 23
  22. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 24
  23. ^ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 25-26
  24. ^ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 26-28
  25. ↑ According to De Gennaro, he was only in Modena between 1651 and 1652 (see below).
  26. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 28–31
  27. ^ According to P. Orlando not until 1657, but De Dominici denies this by pointing out that Preti was already in Naples from 1656. Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 31-33
  28. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 31-33
  29. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 31-33
  30. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 36-38; here: 38
  31. ↑ JT Spike: Mattia Preti: i documenti, hrgg. v. JT Spike, Florence 1998, pp. 78-133. Here after: Rosanna De Gennaro: "PRETI, Mattia, detto il Cavalier Calabrese", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 85, 2016, online on "Treccani" (seen on March 2, 2019)
  32. ^ According to De Dominici not until the end of 1656. See Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 36–38; here: 38
  33. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 64
  34. ↑ De Dominici reported a Rocambolesque anecdote in connection with the frescoes of the city gates, according to which the painter again picked up his sword during fights, killed a person, ended up in prison and was sentenced to death. It was only when the viceroy Don Garcia de Avellaneda e de Haro, Conde de Castrillo, learned that it was the well-known painter Mattia Preti, whom he had met in Rome in the house of the Olimpia Maidalchini, that the painter was released, but had to be Compensation for painting the seven city gates with the above-mentioned frescoes free of charge. When the leaders of Naples finally saw Preti's excellent paintings, they would have given him 300 ducats, despite the penalty that had to be served. See: Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, 38-40 & pp. 46-47
  35. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 50-64
  36. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 65-66
  37. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 58-61
  38. ^ V. Ruffo: "Galleria Ruffo nel Secolo XVII in Messina", in: Bollettino d'Arte , vol. X (1916), pp. 239-256, 284-318
  39. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 71-72
  40. ↑ Spike, 1999, scheda 257, pp. 328-330; Sciberras, 2012, pp. 133-135. Here after: Rosanna De Gennaro: "PRETI, Mattia, detto il Cavalier Calabrese", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 85, 2016, online on "Treccani" (seen on March 2, 2019)
  41. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 79-80
  42. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 82
  43. ^ Mattia Preti: i documenti, 1998, under data. Here after Rosanna De Gennaro: "PRETI, Mattia, detto il Cavalier Calabrese", in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Volume 85, 2016, online on "Treccani" (seen on March 2, 2019)
  44. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 100 ff
  45. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, pp. 79-80
  46. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 82 and p. 96-100
  47. ↑ Bernardo De Dominici : Note della vita del Cavaliere Fra Mattia Preti , Zefirino Micallef, Malta, 1864, p. 100
  48. ↑ Even if you consider the contemporary ideal of beauty, white skin.
  49. ↑ "ennobled Cavalier Calabrese"
personal data
SURNAME Preti, Mattia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Il Cavalliere Calabrese
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian baroque fresco painter and knight of the Maltese order
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1613
PLACE OF BIRTH Taverna , Calabria
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1699
Place of death Valletta , Malta