(Taverna 1613–1699 La Valletta)
The Martyrdom of Saint Stephen,
oil on canvas, 145.5 x 206.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Francesco Maria Balbi, Genoa, 1671-1747 (according to Literature);
Casale di Ponte Galeria, Rome;
Collection of Antonio Marsicola, Rome;
and thence by descend to the present owner

Documentation:
B. De Dominici, Vite de’ pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, 1742-1745, vol. 3, pp. 368-369: ‘In casa di Francesco Maria Balsi son due buoni quadri, uno cho rappresenta il Martirio di S. Stefano, l’altro quando seppelliscono il corpo morto del medesimo’

Literature:
J. T. Spike, Mattia Preti: catalogo ragionato dei dipinti, Florence 1999, p. 270, cat. no. 202 (as Mattia Preti);
K. Sciberras, Mattia Preti: the triumphant manner. With a catalogue of his works in Malta, Valletta 2012, p. 458, not illustrated (as Mattia Preti – under ‘list of Maltese period works outside Malta’);
F. Sricchia Santoro, A. Zezza (eds.), in: B. De Dominci, Vite de’pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, commented edition, Naples 2017, vol. 3 (1), p. 688, note 26, not illustrated

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri under no. 53477 (as Mattia Preti).

Saint Stephen was one of the seven deacons ordained by Saint Peter in Jerusalem. He fearlessly disputed with the Hebrews in the synagogue, but he was expelled beyond the city walls and stoned to death. In the present painting Mattia Preti depicts the moment of martyrdom. The saint on the ground fills the lower centre of the canvas, he holds one hand to his heart and the other up-turned to Heaven. Saint Stephen’s gaze is turned to the sky. Behind and beside him, three executioners raise heavy stones with violent gestures. The saint wears his typical Dalmatian habit, an open book lies beside him, while his head begins to release the divine light of a halo.

The young man in the centre, nearest the fallen saint resembles a similar figure in the Ecce Homo in the ceiling of the Oratorio della Decollazione in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist at La Valletta, dated 1683. According to Spike, the present work is presumed close in date to this (see literature). Indeed, its vigorous composition displays Mattia Preti’s typical technique of the 1680s when the artist made ample use of a brown-red imprimatura, or ground, for the preparation of his canvases. The palette is largely limited to scarlet, yellow and earth colours. A softly-diffused, natural, warm light flushes the figures, while the figure of the saint is lit by a supernatural light. During this period Mattia Preti had already moved to Malta where he arrived in 1661, and where he was to remain until his death in 1699. During the 1680s the spatial organisation of Preti’s painting became infused with enveloping colour, while the complexity of his compositions increased, and became articulated by the dominating mass of the volume of his mighty, giant-size, figures. These are all qualities that appear, among others, in the Martyrdom of Saint Paul in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (inv. no. 69.17; see fig. 1).

A drawing conserved in the Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia (inv. no. B31; see fig. 2) can be related to the present painting. The subject of this red chalk drawing with red and brown ink water-colouring on white paper (133 x 186 mm) was identified as Saint Stephen by Nicholas Turner and was subsequently attributed to Mattia Preti. This drawing finds considerable points of comparison with a number of well-known sheets such as the Group of Saints and Angels in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 1970.113.6; see A. Bigi Iotti, La linea continua: disegni antichi dei Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia, Milan 2015, p. 110 cat. no. 37). The sketch of a human figure on this sheet is comparable, in terms of composition, to that of the figure of Saint Stephen in the present painting.

Although Mattia Preti did not repeat the present composition in any other painting, nor are there any known studio copies or other versions, he did represent the martyrdom of Saint Stephen on two other occasions. The first was executed around 1663 for the altar dedicated to Saint Stephen in the parish church of Saint Catherine at Zurrieq, Malta, where it remains to the present day. The second, dated 1681, and therefore contemporary to the present painting, was made for the parish church of Saint Paul at Rabat, Malta (see J. Spike, Mattia Preti: catalogo ragionato dei dipinti, Florence 1999, cat. nos. 165, 296).

Born at Taverna in Calabria in 1613, Mattia Preti attained his first years of training at Rome, followed by seven years spent in Naples. In 1661 he settled in Malta where he enjoyed the patronage of a substantial clientele and where he remained until his death in 1699. On his arrival on the island, he began work on one of the largest projects of his career: the restructuring of the interior of the church of Saint John at La Valletta which he completed to great acclaim in 1669. Before moving to Malta, Mattia Preti regularly received commissions from the Knights of Malta, an order he had belonged to since 1641. His association with this order lent him prestige and a constant stream of work over the course of his entire life, giving scope to his swift brush and rapid technique to create an impressive body of work.