21/09/2001
by Elena De Luca

The works by Mattia Preti (1613–1699) which have gone up for auction over the last ten years have seen some erratic movements. Such fluctuations in sale price can be distinguished between confirmed (or authentic) works by the artist and those which are vague attributions to the manner, school of a follower of Preti. In fact a work attributed to an anonymous "school of Preti" entitled Monk Upheld by an Angel (98.4 cm x 83.5 cm) was sold in 1992 at Christie’s, London for $ 17,850 (€ 19,170). A year later Susanna and the Elders (135.7 x 110.5 cm) "in the manner of Preti" was sold in London at Christie’s, South Kensington for $ 4,900 (€ 5,300).

Regarding works definitely attributed to Preti, these carry heavier quotes justified by higher pictorial quality and brushwork. Yet even some of these fail to attract buyers. For example St John the Baptist in the Forest, an oil on canvas, measuring 172.7 x 121.3 cm, went for auction twice during the 1990’s and both remained unsold each time. Painted circa 1644-1645, when Preti was in Modena working on the frescos of the Church of St Blaise, it went under the hammer for the first time in 1994 at Sotheby’s, New York with an estimate of $ 200,000–300,000 (€ 214.900). A year later Sotheby’s, New York, drastically reduced their estimate for the painting in a desperate effort to sell, with an estimate of $ 50,000–70,000 (€53,720 – 75,200).

Painter and Knight of the Order of Malta, Mattia Preti was born in the Italian city of Taverna, in Calabria, in 1613. He later moved to Rome where he enjoyed the stimulus of the city for thirty years, alternating with periods of study and work in other cities, including Modena, Venice and Naples until he settled in Malta where he died in 1699. Preti deeply absorbed the lessons of Caravaggio, both directly and through the influence of northern and French followers such as Valentin and Nicolas Tournier, hence the numerous genre scenes of musicians, card players and other secular subjects. Amongst others, Triumph of Love (169 x 366 cm) was sold by Christie’s, New York in May 1992 for $ 275,000 (€295,500); and the oil painting Boethius and Philosophy (185 x 254 cm) sold, also in 1992, by Sotheby’s, New York for $ 506,500 (€ 544,250). The small works are more rare and ones that stand out amongst these are Old Man with Woman and Child (61 x 47 cm), sold by Sotheby’s in October 1992 for $ 25,300 (€ 27,190) and Man with a Beard (68.5 x 55.6 cm) sold by Christie’s, London in April 1994 for $ 5,930 (€ 6,380). For the mythological themes and epics the oil Daedalus Attaching Icarus’s Wings (158 x 124.5 cm) offered at Christie’s, London in 1992, sold for $ 129,760 (€ 139,470). Preti only started to work on biblical and religious subjects later on, between 1630 and 1640, showing all the influence of the Emilian culture and of Guercino in particular, as can be seen in Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (11 x 147 cm) which was put forward in Venice in 1992 by Franco Semenzato with a top estimate of $134,480 (€144,610), but remained unsold. Alternatively Absalom’s Feast (116.8 x 168 cm) was sold firstly by Christie’s, New York in 1993 for $ 49,500 (€ 53,230) and sold again on the 25th of April last year at Christie’s, London for $ 44,210 (€ 47,540) against an estimate of $ 29,470 – 44,210 (€ 31,690 – 47,540) demonstrating a renewed market interest in these subjects.

Preti’s extraordinary ability in draftsmanship enabled him to absorb techniques then fashionable in Rome in the mid to late 17^th century, and reveals his consistent openness to new influences, including the neo-Venetian movement by Mola, Testa and Poussin. Amongst the drawings that have gone to auction over the last ten years, Study of Victims of the Plague (22.5 x 28.5 cm), perhaps ascribable to the years when Preti was in Naples (straight after the 1656 plague), was sold by Christie’s, New York in 1995 for $ 10,350 (€11,170) while Christ in Glory Upheld by the Angels (17.9 x 19 cm) was sold at Sotheby’s, New York in January 1994 for $ 4,600 (€ 4,950).