The Plague of 1656
by PRETI, Mattia, Oil on canvas
This painting is a ‘bozzetto’ for one of his frescoes, now lost, painted as an ex-voto on the city gates during the plague of 1656. In the mature works created during his Neapolitan period (1656-60) Preti weddded reminiscences of Battistello, Ribera and Guercino with those of Tintoretto and Veronese. The resulting style is well illustrated by the bozzetto.