Keith Sciberras, head of the Art and Art History Department at the University and an expert researcher in baroque painting, will on Saturday present new insights about Mattia Preti at Il-Ħaġar Museum in Victoria.

The Italian 17th-century artist left many important works across the Maltese islands, including those adorning the ceiling of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. A set of four ovals by the Preti bottega are among the range of permanent exhibits at the Gozitan cultural centre.

The occasion will also serve to launch Sciberras’s latest publication, Mattia Preti: Life and Works.

The book researches the artist’s life and his work, discusses the mechanics of patronage and analyses the complications of his life as an artist knight. It provides the fullest catalogue to date of paintings attributed to Preti – a number of which are hitherto unpublished – and, based on archival research, technical and stylistic study, it attempts to provide a chronology for his entire oeuvre.

Other books such as Mattia Preti: The Triumphant Manner and Caravaggio to Mattia Preti will be also available for sale at a discounted price on Saturday.

The event will be held at 10am. Entrance is free but booking on events@heartofgozo.org.mt is recommended.

Current restrictions mean that places will be limited but live-streaming is planned.