Din l-Art Ħelwa, together with the Rector and Jesuit Community of Sarria church, will be presenting an overview of the recently completed restoration of the seven paintings by Mattia Preti found at Sarria church, on Wednesday, February 2, at 6pm.   

This presentation will be made by conservator Giuseppe Mantella, conservator and art historian Prof. Sante Guido and Sebastiano D’Amico, head, Department of Geosciences University of Malta.

Din l-Art Ħelwa executive president Prof. Alex Torpiano will introduce the speakers. 

Sarria church dates far back to the beginning of the Order of St John’s presence in Malta when, in 1585 a knight from Navarra, Martino de Sarria, built a small chapel named Cappella Sarria. In 1680, the Order of St John decided to rebuild the chapel as thanksgiving for the end of the pestilence of 1675-76 that killed about 8000 Maltese.

A new and bigger church was built on Mattia Preti’s designs and is the only known architectural work by this great artist. Grand Master Nicolas Cottoner also commissioned the paintings for the church from Mattia Preti and this resulted in a complete scheme entirely by Preti, including The Immaculate Conception altarpiece, St Sebastian, St Roque, St  Rosalia, St Nicholas of Bari, and two lunettes depicting The Apotheosis of the Order, and St Michael Victorious over Lucifer.

Between 2010 and 2022, Din l-Art Ħelwa, undertook the restoration of all seven paintings, thanks to the generosity of the sponsors Shireburn Software Ltd, Malta International Airport, Middlesea Insurance Ltd, Sparkasse Bank Malta Ltd and the Rotary Clubs of Palermo and Malta.

Everyone is invited to attend. The link to participate can be found here.