MATTIA PRETI (workshop of) (Taverna, 1613 - Valletta, 1699) The Coin Tribute Oil on canvas, 181X208 cm Provenance: Genoa, private collection The painting can be compared with the canvas from a Maltese collection (fig. 1- formerly Christie's London 9 December 2015 lot 181; oil on canvas, cm 157.1X218.3) judged by Keith Sciberras to be the work of Mattia Preti with the collaboration of his workshop (cf. Sciberras 2020, p. 309, fig. 325- p. 312, no. 494). In our case, a philological evaluation is made difficult by the oxidised varnish that does not allow for an easy reading of the pictorial passages. Nevertheless, a stylistic concordance can be observed that allows for a dating to the end of the ninth decade or a little later, similar to the Martyrdom of St. Stephen in a private collection (oil on canvas, 145X206.5 cm - cf. Sciberras 2020, p. 309, fig. 326; p. 316, no. 533). In fact, the painting responds to the painter's late manner, when, by now elderly and in order to cope with the countless commissions, he was assisted by helpers, producing works that no longer possess the coherence of development that characterises the works of his best years. Nevertheless, his production still exhibits a tenebrous and scenic tenor to great effect, while the palette becomes increasingly brownish, but marked by a Caravaggio-like luminosity that makes the figures emerge with energy. These are the years in which Preti's creations show an enrichment of spatial organisation, sometimes reaching unexpected complexity, with powerful figures populating the entire scenic space. Reference bibliography: J. T. Spike, Mattia Preti: catalogue raisonné of paintings, Florence 1999, ad vocem K. Sciberras, Mattia Preti: the triumphant manner. With a catalogue of his works in Malta, Valletta 2012, ad vocem K. Sciberras, Mattia Preti. Life and works, Valletta 2020, ad vocem