Mattia Preti

(Taverna, 1613 - La Valletta, 1699)

The painting is on its original canvas.

This powerful representation of the Evangelist Luke has been recognized by Nicola Spinosa as a secure autograph work by Mattia Preti and dated to the years of the painter’s second stay in Naples, prior to his definitive transfer to Malta. It is likely that the canvas originally formed part of a complete cycle of the Four Evangelists, although this hypothesis remains unconfirmed at present.

In noting the solid formal and compositional structure, the consistently high quality, and the careful definition of the facial features and expression, Nicola Spinosa suggests that the painter employed a live model and that the work was therefore executed from life. Preti returned to the same subject on other occasions, depicting Saint Luke painting the Virgin and Child (Catania, Museo del Castello Ursino; Valletta, church of Saint Francis of Assisi; among others), though with results of lesser quality than the present canvas. In the painting under discussion, the deliberate revival of solutions of Caravaggesque derivation appears particularly evident, in keeping with other compositions executed during the final Neapolitan period of Mattia Preti.