Christmas 1998 Stamp Issue

Christmas 1998 Stamp Issue

On the 19th November, 1998 Maltapost plc will issue a set of four stamps in the annual Christmas series.

This year the stamps are a philatelic tribute to the renowned Italian artist Mattia Preti, featuring four different paintings portraying the Madonna and Child.

The stamps are being issued in the following denominations:-

• 6c featuring Rest on the Flight to Egypt

From the small chapel dedicated to the Holy Name of Mary in High Street, Sliema, that had replaced an earlier chapel (destroyed in 1798-1800) on Tigne Point. On stylistic grounds, this fine lyrical work by Mattia Preti has been dated to c.1675.

• 6c + 2c featuring Virgin and Child with SS Anthony the Abbot and John the Baptist

Commissioned for the chapel attached to the chateau built by Grand Master Verdalle on the hunting grounds of Boschetto. The Order had a particularly long standing devotion to St Anthony the Abbot which the deserted location at Boschetto served to evoke. The fine altarpiece is datable to the period 1663-1664.

• 16c + 3c featuring Virgin and Child with SS Raphael, Nicholas and Gregory

A painting commissioned for the rural chapel known as Tal-Mirakli in the limits of Lija. The work is an exquisite composition of earth harmonies typical of Mattia Preti’s Malta years, although dated by scholars to around 1664, the year in which the chapel was reconstructed by Grand Master Nicholas Cotoner.

• 26c + 3c featuring Virgin and Child with SS John the Baptist and Nicholas

Commissioned for the chapel built above the Grotto of St Paul in Rabat. This commission is well documented to the 1680-1681 period for which Mattia Preti was paid 300 scudi. The church itself at the time had become the property of the Order of St. John, thus explaining the prominence given to its Patron.

Preti was born in the town of Sila Piccola in the Italian province of Calabria, in 1613. The first link in the chain that was to tie Mattia Preti and his genius to Malta was cast in 1642 when he was created a Knight of Obedience by the Order of St John of Jerusalem, in Rome. In 1659 he made a brief visit to these islands which served to intensify these links, and in 1661 Mattia Preti became firmly planted on these shores, until his death on the 1st January 1699.

During these years whilst residing for the whole period in Valletta he undertook the painting of the vault of St John’s Co-Cathedral, a monumental task which to this day stands as a legacy to his genius. However, his professional capacity was not limited to this one task but his prolific output is found in numerous churches and chapels all over Malta. He also undertook commissions on behalf of local patrons. Some of his works found their way to Italy and other foreign shores.

Mattia Preti is fittingly buried in St John’s Co-Cathedral amidst some of the splendour he himself created.

As in previous years, the surcharge collected from the sale of these stamps will be distributed among Child Welfare and Philanthropic Organisations.

The stamps were printed by Printex Ltd. Photographs of the four paintings were taken by Mr Peter Bartolo Parnis, Mr. Kevin Casha, Mr Joe Sammut and the Marquis Cassar de Sain.

This issue is available from all branch post offices and can also be ordered from the Philatelic Bureau at Maltapost p.l.c., Head Office, 305, Qormi Rd, Marsa. (Fax 22 63 68)

17.11.98