Hospitallers Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Among the Artists who were painting in Malta for the benefit of the ospitaller Order of St John, the most known, after Michelangelo Merisi, called il Caravaggio, was Mattia Preti (Taverna 1613-La Valletta 1699), also known as “The Knight from Calabria” because of the part of Italy where he was borne. Preti was in many ways the Artist who in Malta continued the Merisi’s tradition, full of drama and realism. Bernardo De Dominici (1683-1750 ca), an Historian from Naples, wrote in Preti’s
biography how the Artist had been proposed as a Knight of Magistral Obedience of the Order of Malta (13th of November 1641), with the approval of the Holy Roman Pontiff Urban VIII. It is possible that the chivalric vocation of Mattia Preti was influenced by Caravaggio, whose paintings he greatly admired. Preti may have thought that he too, as it had happened to Caravaggio, could be admitted into the Order in virtue of his Art. A Candidate, to be admitted to the Order, as a rule, had to be
of Noble origin, which had to be confirmed by reliable witnesses from his place of birth who knewthe family to which the Candidate belonged. The Preti Family had not been granted letters patent of nobility, but it had been in charge of offices which in the Town of Taverna required a nobiliary status. And this was considered as a sufficient proof. As it had been with Caravaggio, also in the case of Mattia Preti, the admission to the Order was made possible by the support of some influent Roman Families, as the Rospigliosis and the Aldobrandinis. On the 28th of August 1642 Mattia Preti was finally admitted, with the approval of the Pope, into the Order of Malta. The investiture took place in the Church of St Anna of Borgo. Receiving the insigna of the Order Preti gave his oath of «votum solemne castitatis, paupertatis et obedientiae». While Caravaggio had paid the relevant fee of admission with his masterpiece, the Decollazione di San Giovanni Battista, Preti paid it instead in money and not with a painting. There are doubts that Preti took part, as every Knight had to do, in the carovana; he instead very probably contributed to the Mission of the Order with his paintings, according to the wishes of the Grand Master Martin de Redin. Preti arrived in Malta from Naples
in the year 1660, but he moved to Valletta only one year after. On the 15th of September 1661 he was promoted by the Grand Master Rafael Cotoner to the rank of Knight of Grace, again due because of his merits as an Artist. He continued to paint in Malta until his death, in 1699. Mattia Preti was famous not only for his ability with the pencil, but also with the sword, giving in some occasions public demonstration of his skills, which caused him troubles with Justice.