The exhumation of Mattia Preti, painter

Abstract

Mattia Preti was not the first nor the greatest Italian painter to adorn St John's. The superior genius of Caravaggio in the turbulent last years of his brief life had in 1608 left there two of his greatest masterpieces, the "Beheading of the Baptist" and a "St Jerome." After a period of relative obscurity Preti has risen in the estimation of art critics and art buyers to an exalted position as an exponent of seventeenth century baroque painting. In terms of magnitude and extent alone his singular embellishment of St John's, coupled with scores of other great paintings in various Maltese churches, renders him unrivalled as a contributor to the island's artistic heritage.