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Mattia Preti spent over 40 years of his artistic life in Malta. Brought to Malta by the Order of St John during the High Baroque period, he left an artistic imprint on the island like no other had done before or indeed after. To discuss his new book and more, Prof Keith Sciberras will be interviewed by Nadette Xuereb, a graduate of Arts and a former president of HoASA – The History of Arts and Fine Arts Students’ Assoiation.

In this new book by Prof Keith Sciberras sheds new light on Mattia Preti’s life and works and includes an updated catalogue of his works. Published in late 2020, Prof Sciberras’ book discusses patronage and the complications of the life of an artist knight with recent research and revelations. The art historian and curator Prof. John T. Spike has praised the book’s beautiful photography and commended Scibberas’ “thorough and thoughtful research”. The book is further enriched by a number of unpublished paintings in private collections and above all includes the fullest catalogue to date of paintings attributed to Mattia Preti – a number of which were previously unknown. 

Professor Keith Sciberras Ph.D., (b.1970) is Head of the Department of Art and Art History within the Faculty of Arts, University of Malta. Received as an Andrew W. Mellon Senior Fellow (2005) in the Department of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2005, he was elected Trustee of the Association of Art Historians (AAH), London in 2012. Professor Sciberras has published extensively on the subject of Caravaggio, Roman Baroque sculpture, and Italian Baroque painting and has contributed to numerous international research projects and exhibitions.

Nadette Xuereb (B.A. (Hons.), M.A. History of Art (Melit.)) is an art historian and a former president of HoASA. Her specialised area of study is gender issues in art, with a special focus on the Baroque period in Malta. She has recently graduated with an M.A. in History of Art (by Research) from the University of Malta, in which she researched the role of Cosmana Navarra as a female patron of the arts. Her undergraduate dissertation focused on Suor Maria de Dominici, the first known female artist in the Maltese Islands.