Circle of Mattia Pretti, second half of the seventeenth century.

Circle of MATTIA PRETI (Taverna, 1613 - Valletta, 1699); Second half of the seventeenth century.
"St. Paul Thebaid."
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents restorations.
Measurements: 76 x 70 cm; 86 x 84 cm (frame).
This work follows the model of the painting of Mattia Pretti that is in the National Museum of Catalonia. In the representation of Saint Jerome, Mattia Preti introduces an anachronistic element by showing the hermit with a rosary in his right hand, a symbolic resource that alludes to Marian devotion. This detail can be interpreted as a subtle allusion by the artist to the contemplative dimension of the saint. This element is preserved in this piece, where the artist follows the model faithfully, although he enlarges the twilight landscape, giving the piece a greater context.
Throughout his extensive career, Preti often tackled the iconography of penitent saints and anchorites, in whose figures one can perceive an intense spirituality wrapped in a serene mysticism. The treatment of chiaroscuro in his compositions reveals a clear influence of the tenebrist naturalism of Caravaggio and José de Ribera. However, Preti introduces personal contributions through a vigorous and dynamic brushstroke, which defines the forms with a visual synthesis characteristic of his mature style.
Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, he began his artistic apprenticeship with the caravagist Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, which may explain his lifelong interest in Caravaggio's style. Probably before 1630, Preti joined his brother Gregorio, also a painter, in Rome, where he became familiar with the techniques of Caravaggio and his school, as well as with the work of Guercino, Rubens, Reni, Giovanni Lanfranco and Veronese. Between 1644 and 1646, he may have spent some time in Venice, although he continued to reside in Rome until 1653, returning later in 1660 to Venice to settle there. Where he worked alongside Pier Francesco Mola, Gaspard Dughet, Francesco Cozza, Giovanni Battista Tassi (il Cortonese), and Guillaume Courtois (Guglielmo Cortese). For most of the period from 1653-1660, he worked in Naples, where he was influenced by another great Neapolitan painter of the time, Luca Giordano. His Saint Sebastian, now in the Museum of Capodimonte, dates from this period. Having been made a Knight of Grace in the Order of St. John, he visited the order's headquarters in Malta in 1659 and spent most of the rest of his life there. Preti transformed the interior of the Co-cathedral of St. John in Valletta with a large series of paintings on the life and martyrdom of John the Baptist. This led to a growing artistic reputation that brought him into an extensive circle of patrons, and facilitated commissions from all over Europe. Preti was fortunate to enjoy a long career and had a considerable artistic output. His paintings, representative of the exuberant late Baroque style, are preserved in many major museums, including important collections in Naples, Valletta, Sacristy of the Chalices of the Cathedral of Seville and in his hometown of Taverna.