A deed discovered at the Notarial Archives in Valletta has shed light on the provenance of Mattia Preti’s painting Boethius and Philosophy, acquired earlier this year by Heritage Malta for €1,323,000 through the National Development Social Fund.

The deed was drawn up on September 1 of 1740 by Valletta Notary Giuseppe Callus.

It documents the Common Treasury of the Order of St John selling Preti’s painting, titled Filosofia, together with three other works by the same artist, to the Italian Knight Francesco Parisio.

The painting sold for 233 scudi and four tareni. That is the equivalent of €56 according to the Order of Malta's conversion rate, which does not factor in inflation over the 280 years between the sale and modern-day times. 

This discovery was made by Christina Cassar Meli, an academic who is carrying out historical research on the provenance of artistic work at the Notarial Archives in St Christopher Street. This research project is the result of a collaboration between the archives and the University of Malta.

Photo: Heritage Malta

Professor Keith Sciberras, who is supervising Cassar Meli’s doctoral research, said this new document proposes another significant link in later passage from the collection of Fra Andrea di Giovanni into that of the Grand Master’s Palace.

The reference to a painting of Filosofia of approximately the same size in this inventory documents the work passing into the collection of Fra Francesco Parisio in 1740 and identifies the corpus of other pictures that were displayed next to it.

The collaboration is just one of six research projects that is being sponsored by the Office of the Chief Notary in collaboration with the UOM.

These research initiatives form part of a plan that seeks to develop the newly rehabilitated archives into a centre of excellence in conservation and research, Joan Abela, consultant historian at the Notarial Archives, said.

The oil on canvas arrived in Malta in June after it turned up at Sotheby’s Old Masters Auction in New York, from where the Maltese government bought it for €1.3 million.

En route, the painting, which measures 3.12m by 2.54m, spent three months in Rome due to flight cancellations caused by the coronavirus pandemic.