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This blog is dedicated to Malta - my island home. My aim is not to bore you with history but to share my thoughts and a few facts together with a photo or two. For a more in -depth background of the island please go here. The purpose of this blog is not to point out the short-comings of the island. There are plenty that do that already. My wish is to show you the beauty of an island at the cross roads of the Mediterranean, a melting pot of history; a place where fact and fiction are sometimes fused to create unique myths and legends; a country that has been conquered so many times that our culture is a mish mesh of the lands that surround us and of lands far away. I confess that my greatest desire is to make you fall in love with this tiny enchanting island.

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Tuesday 7 May 2013

Event of the Month: Faith and Humanity – an Exhibition of Paintings by Mattia Preti

Mattia Preti was born in Taverna, a small town in Calabria (Italy) in 1613. He came to Malta in 1659 as a member of the Order of the Knights of St John and died here in 1699. To mark the 400th anniversary since his birth, an exhibition of some of his major works will be held in Valletta. The exhibition will feature paintings on loan from, among others, the Prado (Madrid), the Louvre (Paris), Uffizzi (Florence), Musei Vaticani (Rome) and Museo di Capodimonte (Naples) together with local masterpieces from the National Museum of Fine Arts and various churches. During his lifetime, Preti was a prolific painter and his works adorn many a church and country chapel. The artist’s exuberant style is representative of the late Baroque period. Many consider  the narrative cycle based on the life and martyrdom of St John the Baptist that he painted on the ceiling of St John’s Cathedral in Valletta, to be his crowing glory. Mattia Preti, also known as Il Cavalier Calabrese (the Knight from Calabria), is buried in St John’s Cathedral, Valletta.

A section of the vault of St John’s Cathedral (the pink spots are from my camera)

Notte Bianca 022-001

The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine

Notte Bianca 025

Mattia Preti – Faith and Humanity

The Palace State Rooms

Valletta

4 May – 7 July

Open daily from 10.00hrs till 16.00hrs

 

To learn more about this exhibition that is being organised by Heritage Malta go here.

For other events in Malta in May go here.

4 comments:

  1. I'd say exuberant is a very good word to describe his style!

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  2. So we have Le Nôtre 1613 and you have Preti 1613... This must be a fabulous exhibition!

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  3. Good, that there were these painters ! As there was no photography, at least we know how people were dressed and how they lived !

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  4. I just had a fantasy moment, that if I won the lottery I could hear about something like this and say, "Oh fabulous" and jump on a plane. Sigh... Anyway, I went over and watched a couple of the videos from the link, I don't know about this artist! His name is familiar but that's it. So much more to learn!!! Thanks, Loree!

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