The Italian Baroque Era painter, Mattia Preti, is celebrated as a prominent Italian artist of the late Baroque style, whose work extended the reputation of Neapolitan painting throughout Italy and internationally during the second half of the 17th century.

Best-known for adorning the baroque churches of Malta, Preti was born in Taverna, a small town in the south of Italy, in the Calabria region, on 24th February 1613.