Two years ago on the eve of St. Matthew’s feast day, I posted a reflection on one of Rome’s most spectacular artistic compositions: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s St. Matthew cycle. This year I thought I’d share some pictures of a lesser-known depiction of the same event by an artist from the generation that followed Caravaggio, Mattia Preti (1613-1699).
Preti was born in Calabria three years after Caravaggio died, though he worked in many of the same locales as the earlier artist, among them Rome, Naples, and Malta. He also clearly shows the influence of Caravaggio’s style: the realism and intensity, religious passion, and the effect–as spiritual as it is artistic–of radiant light emerging from the darkness.
Continue reading “The Calling of St. Matthew: Mattia Preti’s homage to Caravaggio”
Tony Lusvardi, S.J. 