Mattia Preti, il Cavaliere Calabrese (Taverna, Calabria 1613-1699 Valletta, Malta)

The Risen Christ

Details

Mattia Preti, il Cavaliere Calabrese (Taverna, Calabria 1613-1699 Valletta, Malta)
The Risen Christ
oil on canvas
48 7⁄8 x 39 1⁄8 in. (124.3 x 99.2 cm.)

Provenance

with Colnaghi, London, 1967.
Anonymous sale; Finarte Casa d'Aste, Milan, 12-13 December 1973, lot 13.
Anonymous sale; Finarte Casa d'Aste, Milan, 21 November 1974, lot 70.

Literature

B. Nicholson, "Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions", The Burlington Magazine, CIX, no. 770, May 1967, p. 318.
J. T. Spike, Mattia Preti: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Florence, 1999, pp. 383-4, no. 356, illustrated.

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Lot Essay

This ‘fine expression of Preti’s rugged piety’ has been dated by John Spike to the decade between 1675 and 1685, a period of intense activity for the painter, following his arrival in Malta (op. cit.). It shows the Risen Christ bearing the Cross and presenting His wounds to the viewer. This picture perfectly demonstrates the combination of Caravaggesque chiaroscuro, expressive realism and grand theatricality that came to characterise the artist’s dramatic mature style.

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