Visitors to Mdina Cathedral, which is currently celebrating the Conversion of St Paul, can see two recently restored paintings on either side of the main altar.

They are two paintings by Mattia Preti, depicting the martyrdom of St Peter and that of St Paul, which have not been given due emphasis by historians of art.

To commemorate the fourth centenary of the birth of the Calabrian artist, who was born on 24 February 1613 in Taverna, Calabria, the Metropolitan Chapter has promoted the restoration of these two paintings.

The restoration was offered and sponsored by Sante Guido and Giuseppe Mantella, the two Italian restorers from Calabria who for the past 15 years have been working on the restoration of many items of Malta’s artistic heritage.

The two paintings were completed by the artist in 1682 and were commissioned by Don Antonio Testaferrata, a canon from the same chapter, whose coat of arms appears on each of them.

In 1679, Bishop Michele Girolamo Molina and the Metropolitan Chapter commissioned Maltese architect Lorenzo Cafà to rebuild the apse and choir of the ancient building. Over the years, the building had become inadequate for the requirements of the members of the chapter and also showed signs of structural instability.

The first three paintings of the Pauline cycle had been completed by 1682. On 28 June 1682, the eve of the feast of the Holy Patron, the large altarpiece painted by the Cavalier Calabrese magnificently embellished the apse of the renovated building on the occasion of the inauguration of the new choir.

The Conversion of St Paul includes the coat of arms of Michele Girolamo Molina, Aragonese bishop of Malta, carved over the column on the right-hand side. The prelate, who was also a chaplain of the Order of the Knights of St John, was not able to see the completion of the architectural renovation of the building which he had initiated, because by the time of consecration of the new altar he was no longer in Malta, having been transferred to the bishopric of Lerida in Catalunya in May 1682.

In the Mdina painting, the Cavalier Calabrese re-worked the composition that he had executed in 1667 for the titular painting of the Chapel of the Langue of France in the Conventual church of St John in Valletta.

The two smaller paintings are in a strongly vertical format and are inserted into the wall, thus concluding the apsidal decoration. The paintings were completed and placed to the sides of the high altar towards the end of 1682. They were mounted into the marble frames, which were centred on to the concave wall, which thus necessitated the trimming of the canvas to fit the painting into the curvature of the rounded upper part.

As masterpieces with a remarkably powerful expressiveness, the two paintings represent the Martyrdom of St Peter (on the right hand side) and the Martyrdom of St Paul (on the left hand side) and are perfectly inspired by earlier paintings on similar themes known to Preti, that were executed by Guido Reni and Bartolomeo Passarotti in the early years of the 17th century for the Roman church of St Paolo alle Tre Fontane.

In the case of the Martyrdom of St Peter, the artist chose to privilege the representation of the figure of the Saint being hoisted from his feet on to the raised cross and to enlarge the scenic space by exploiting perspectival viewpoints. He also included the executioner pulling on the ropes in the background, and the papal tiara and keys, symbols of the Prince of Apostles, in the extreme foreground.

In this painting, the close and smoky modulated tones and the mildly varying colours as well as the luminosity that is entirely focused on the Saint – as can be seen in several paintings by Fra Mattia up to the Petrine cycle in the Jesuits’ church at the start of the 1660s, where a deeply expressed religious devoutness prevails – all combine to provide a suspenseful atmosphere that induces a meditation on the tragedy of the event without resorting to dramatic twists.

The representation of the Martyrdom of St Paul seems to be more explicit, showing the decapitation at the exact moment when the executioner has just imparted the fatal blow and the head of the Saint is seen in mid-air after hitting the ground at a point where three rivulets of water start to spring forth.

It is the figure of the executioner that dominates the canvas, as he stands holding the sword in his right hand, with a terrified expression on his face as he steps back in confusion.

The foreshortened figure of Paul is far less imposing and is only partly visible, while to the side, the head that has just been separated from the bruised lifeless body is depicted with frightening realism.

In the background, the sparsely depicted faces of the curious, loyal soldiers appear overwhelmed by the tragic event. Symbolic elements that are suggestive of the earthly life of the Saint are depicted in the foreground: the sword and the book with his writings that contain the message to the world of the Apostle of the Gentiles.

After 1682, the Cavalier Calabrese executed another four paintings of extraordinary size for the lateral walls of the choir of Mdina Cathedral. These represent episodes in the life of St Paul in Malta.

The canvas painting on the left hand side represents the Miracle of the Viper, referring to the famous episode that was to become the defining image of Paul in Maltese paintings.

At the opposite end is the painting on the theme of St Paul healing the father of St Publius, which represents the episode described in the Acts of the Apostles.

On the side wall to the right of the Baptism of Publius one finds again the governor of the island who was converted to Christianity by the ‘Apostle of the Gentiles’ and became the first bishop of Malta.

In the left-hand transept is the painting on the theme of St Paul liberating Malta from the Turkish siege of 1427. The Saint is once more the protagonist of the history of the island, in this case turning into the saviour coming to the defence of the inhabitants, saving them from the threat of a Muslim invasion and, in response to the prayers of its people who he had converted to Christianity, appearing miraculously.

To crown the Pauline cycle for the Cathedral of Mdina, Preti executed the magnificent mural painting within the concave apsidal wall, entitled the Shipwreck of St Paul on Malta, painted in oil directly onto the surface of the stone blocks. Thanks to the generosity of Testaferrata, the oeuvre was completed by the artist who by then was already past 75 years old, and was unveiled on 25 January 1689.

With regard to the two paintings just restored, the restorers said: “We think these are two extraordinary and revolutionary paintings which have not been given due consideration even by the most recent studies of Preti, which never noticed the strange composition of the two scenes and always considered them as secondary paintings in comparison with the great altarpiece of St Paul’s conversion.

“In these two paintings, strangely, the martyred saints are placed in the background and it is the executioner who becomes the real protagonist. This is a new and unusual composition that symbolises the primitive and savage man who understands nothing about sanctity and who kills the two victims as if it were a routine job.”

(Additional material taken from the book by the two restorers published by Miranda Books last November on the Preti paintings at the Mdina Cathedral.)