Mattia Preti : beyond the self-portrait

Abstract

In 1742, close to half a century after the artist's demise, Mattia Preti's biographer Bernardo de Dominici describes the artist as a tall, robust and well proportioned man with a dark complexion, jovial face and bright eyes. This is a visual description written by a close contemporary and the closest we can get, beyond Preti's two known self-portraits, to the effigy of the man who was but still lives on through his art. Preti's legacy is undoubtedly greater than the man himself. A knight-painter with a complex personality, Preti embraces two distinct yet overlapping vocations. Knighthood and art complement each other throughout Preti's life. Indeed each fulfils the other; art provides him with the means to secure a coveted knighthood and his artistic vocation is fulfilled through his chivalric ambitions. [Excerpt from the Preface]