A woman at the Art Gallery of Ontario looking up at Mattia Preti's Italian baroque masterpiece St. Paul the Hermit.  Preti was a talented painter and swordsman active in Rome in the mid-17th century.  He was born in southern Italy and trained with his brother in Rome where he painted a number of pictures of musicians and card-sharps in the style of Caravaggio.  Preti traveled widely, receiving many lucrative commissions and ended up settling on the island of Malta where he was highly successful and prolific.  He died in Malta in 1699 at the age of 86 and was buried in one of the impressive churches he helped to decorate.

 

Oil on Hardboard

11 x 14 Inches

2018

SOLD