Portrait of Mattia Preti

Mattia Preti Painting Reproductions 1 of 1

1613-1699

Italian Baroque Painter

Mattia Preti (February 24, 1613 - January 3, 1699) was a Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta.

Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was sometimes called Il Cavalier Calabrese (the Knight of Calabria). His early apprenticeship is said to have been with the "Caravaggist" Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, which may account for his life-long interest in the style of Caravaggio.

Probably before 1630, Preti joined his brother Gregorio (also a painter), in Rome, where he became familiar with the techniques of Caravaggio and his school as well as with the work of Guercino, Rubens, Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco and Paolo Veronese. In Rome, he painted fresco cycles in Sant'Andrea della Valle and San Carlo ai Catinari. Between 1640 and 1646, he spent time in Venice. Returning to Rome in 1641-42, 1650-51, and 1660-61. He painted frescoes for the church of San Biago at Modena (1653-6) and participated in the fresco decoration of the Palazzo Pamphilj in Valmontone (1658-59), where he worked along with Pier Francesco Mola, Gaspar Dughet, Francesco Cozza, Giovanni Battista Tassi (il Cortonese), and Guglielmo Cortese.

During most of 1656-1660, he worked in Naples, where he was influenced by the other major Neapolitan painter of his era, Luca Giordano. One of Preti's masterpieces were a series of large frescoes, ex-votos of the plague (which were painted on seven city gates but have since been lost to the ravages of time), depicting the Virgin or saints delivering people from the plague. Two sketches are in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples. The bozzeto of the Virgin with the baby Jesus looming over the dying and their burial parties envisions a Last Judgement presided over by a woman. Preti's salary for the work was 1500 ducats. Preti also won a commission to supervise the construction, carving, and gilding for the nave and transcept of San Pietro a Maiella.

Having been made a Knight of Grace in the Order of St John, he visited the order’s headquarters in Malta in 1659 and spent most of the remainder of his life there. Preti transformed the interior of St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, with a huge series of paintings on the life and martyrdom of St. John the Baptist (1661-1666). His increased reputation led to an expanded circle of patrons, and he received commissions from all over Europe.

Preti was fortunate to enjoy a long career and have a considerable artistic output. His paintings, representative of the exuberant late Baroque style, are held by many great museums, including important collections in Naples, Valletta, and in his hometown of Taverna.

14 Mattia Preti Paintings

Judith, n.d. by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

Judith n.d.

Oil Painting
$2835
Canvas Print
$49.87
SKU: PRM-5747
Mattia Preti
Original Size: unknown
National Museum of Capodimonte, Venice, Italy

Vanity, c.1650/70 by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

Vanity c.1650/70

Oil Painting
$2759
SKU: PRM-5748
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 93.5 x 65 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

Young St. John the Baptist, n.d. by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

Young St. John the Baptist n.d.

Oil Painting
$2666
SKU: PRM-5749
Mattia Preti
Original Size: unknown
Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome, Italy

The Penitent Magdalene, n.d. by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

The Penitent Magdalene n.d.

Oil Painting
$2517
SKU: PRM-5750
Mattia Preti
Original Size: unknown
Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome, Italy

Daniel Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's First Dream, n.d. by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

Daniel Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's First Dream n.d.

Oil Painting
$3394
SKU: PRM-5751
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 153 x 196 cm
Private Collection

The Adoration of the Shepherds, n.d. by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

The Adoration of the Shepherds n.d.

Oil Painting
$6125
SKU: PRM-5752
Mattia Preti
Original Size: unknown
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom

The Martyrdom of St. Peter, c.1656/60 by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

The Martyrdom of St. Peter c.1656/60

Oil Painting
$2937
SKU: PRM-5753
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 194.5 x 194.3 cm
Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, United Kingdom

The Queen of Sheba before Solomon, n.d. by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

The Queen of Sheba before Solomon n.d.

Oil Painting
$7354
SKU: PRM-5754
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 230 x 309 cm
Private Collection

Saint Veronica with the Veil, c.1655/60 by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

Saint Veronica with the Veil c.1655/60

Oil Painting
$2633
Canvas Print
$56.48
SKU: PRM-5755
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 100.3 x 75 cm
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA

St. John the Baptist Preaching, 1667 by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

St. John the Baptist Preaching 1667

Oil Painting
$4730
Canvas Print
$96.86
SKU: PRM-5756
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 217.2 x 170.2 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

The Tribute Money, n.d. by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

The Tribute Money n.d.

Oil Painting
$2860
Canvas Print
$66.92
SKU: PRM-5757
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 157.5 x 140 cm
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

Concert, c.1630 by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

Concert c.1630

Oil Painting
$2937
SKU: PRM-5759
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 110 x 147 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

The Marriage at Cana, c.1655/60 by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

The Marriage at Cana c.1655/60

Oil Painting
$13872
SKU: PRM-5760
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 203.2 x 226 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

St. Paul the Hermit, c.1660 by Mattia Preti | Painting Reproduction

St. Paul the Hermit c.1660

Oil Painting
$3139
Canvas Print
$60.87
SKU: PRM-5761
Mattia Preti
Original Size: 125 x 101 cm
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

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