MATTIA PRETI (TAVERNA, CALABRIA 1613-1699 VALLETTA, MALTA)

Mattia Preti was born in Taverna, Napels to a patrician family. Around 1630 Mattia left his hometown to join his brother, Giorgio, a well-connected painter in Rome. Paintings produced in the brothers’ Roman studio are sometimes confused, such as the present painting which has been identified as belonging to both Mattia and Gregorio’s oeuvres. The execution of the foreshortening across the Silversmith’s back, realistic and dramatic lighting effects places the work among Mattia’s earliest works.