'More than meets the eye...': observations on the Mattia Preti quadricentennial exhibitions of 2013

Abstract

The 300th anniversary of Preti’s death in 1999 was observed in Malta with a mass in his honour in the Church of St Publius in Rabat, and with a public lecture organized by the Museum of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. The lecture attracted so many hundreds of dignitaries and citizenry that it was necessary to re-direct the crowd into the nave, with Preti’s vault as a splendid canopy overhead. It was the first time that Mattia Preti on his own, not in Caravaggio’s shadow, received his due. In the way of events that come to mark a turning point, probably more people in Malta remember being present than the great church could possibly have held. In Italy, the Preti tercentenary of 1999 was observed with various exhibitions in Naples, Taverna and Catanzaro, each with a catalogue, but as time has shown, the most durable landmark from that anniversary was the publication by his birthplace, Taverna, of the complete catalogue of his paintings, including many previously overlooked and never previously illustrated originals in Maltese churches and collections. Because Preti lived a long life from 1613 to 1699, only fourteen years passed before the next Anno Pretiano of 2013. For the first time, Preti’s art and achievement have been celebrated in special one-artist exhibitions in three lands, Malta, Italy and even the United States of America, across the Atlantic Ocean. In this essay I shall briefly review some of the high points and scholarly contributions of last year’s three commemorative exhibitions, which took place in four venues, beginning in early February with the Muscarelle Museum of Art at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Later the same month, Taverna inaugurated its celebration of her native son’s birthday on the 24th February, with a multi-faceted exhibition co-curated by Giuseppe Valentino, Direttore of the Museo Civico, and Sandro Debono, Senior Curator of the National Museum of Fine Arts. Titled ‘Mattia Preti: Faith and Humanity’, this fascinating examination of Preti as a sacred artist re-opened in May in the State Rooms of The Palace, Valletta. In the meantime, the Regione of Calabria sponsored a loan exhibition of paintings, ‘Mattia Preti: Tra Caravaggio e Luca Giordano’, which took place at the Reggia di Venaria Reale outside Turin during the summer months.