Mattia Preti

Captain and Mrs. Ph. de' Conti Manduca, Valletta, Malta;
With Gurr Johns, London;
From whom acquired by the present collector through W.M. Brady & Co., New York, in 1989.

Floriana, Palazzo dell'Istituto Catolico, Mostra Centenaria Paolino: L'Arte sacra a Malta, 1960, cat. no. 100.

V. Mariani, Mattia Preti a Malta, Rome 1929, p. 86, footnote 38;
J. Cauchi, in Mostra Centenaria Paolino: L'Arte sacra a Malta, exhibition catalogue, Floriana 1960, p. 69, cat. no. 100;
J. Spike, Mattia Preti, Catalogo Ragionato dei Dipinti, Taverna 1999, p. 360, under cat. 294.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work has been restored, but not recently. The canvas has been lined and the tacking edges seem to have been reinforced. The work is stretched onto a new stretcher. The painting has a very pronounced texture, and there is a good rough quality to the paint layer. The right edge and the left edge are showing, and are unpainted; it is only the pale gesso layer that is visible here. Under ultraviolet light, the torso and head of the figure show no restorations. In his right ankle, there are a few dots of retouching. Between the legs there is a little work in the dark background color. There is a retouch in the robe beneath his left hand. In the upper right and upper left, as well as around the edges, there are a few other small spots that can be seen under ultraviolet light. The restoration is very careful and appropriate. Perhaps with a fresh varnish, the work should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This small oil is a bozzetto for Preti's monumental altarpiece for the Parish Church of St. Catherine in Zurrieq, Malta (see fig. 1).  The final canvas was executed for the altar belonging to the local fishermen whose church, dedicated to St. Andrew, had been closed in 1658.  Documentary evidence allows for a fairly precise dating for the altarpiece to between 1665 and June of 1667, when it is first recorded and cited during a pastoral visit to the church by Bishop Lucas Buenos.¹

St. Andrew was a fisherman at Capernaum and the first of Christ's disciples.  According to legend, St. Andrew was crucified at Patras in the Peloponnese by being bound, not nailed, to a saltire, or X-shaped, cross.  He suffered and preached to the people for two days before he died.  Preti depicts the saint as a muscular older man with flowing white beard, standing and holding the cross of his martyrdom.  The distant seascape and the fish in the foreground are meant to represent the saint's protection of fishermen.  He looks out and speaks directly to the viewer, the downward gesture of his left hand probably evoking the apostle's prayer as recorded by St. Augustine (On Penance): "Lord, let me not come down alive from this cross, for it is time for Thee to give my body back to the earth."²

 

 

1.  See J. Spike, Mattia Preti, Catalogo Ragionato dei Dipinti, Taverna 1999, p. 359, under cat. no. 294, "Documents."
2.  See J. Spike, ibid., in his discussion of the Zurrieq altarpiece.