Photo: Archdiocese of Malta

Three artworks from Malta are currently on display together abroad for the first time at the Gallerie d’Italia in Naples, as part of the international exhibition Un altro seicento: L’arte delle donne nel Viceregno (An alternative 17th century: Women’s art in the Viceroyalty).

For the occasion, the Archdiocese of Malta loaned a rarely-seen painting by Maria de Dominici from the Parish Church of the Assumption in Attard.

De Dominici (1645-1703) was a Maltese painter, sculptor and tertiary Carmelite who was born to a family of artists in Birgu. She is believed to have studied under Mattia Preti – and to have assisted him in his work – before moving to Rome in 1682, where she had her own studio and spent the rest of her life.

The painting that is being loaned depicts the Virgin Mary with the plague saints Roch and Nicholas of Bari, and it is being exhibited along with two related works by her presumed mentor Preti.

The display conceived by Prof. Keith Sciberras, head of the Department of Art and Art History within the University of Malta, highlights the artistic dialogue between Preti and de Dominici.

The exhibition “reconsiders the 17th and 18th centuries in Naples through the role and working practices of women artists,” Sciberras explained as he emphasised the significance of de Dominici in the history of Maltese art as Malta’s earliest known woman painter, who produced works independently despite operating in a male-dominated field.

“In truth, we do not have many works by de Dominici. I chose to create a paragon because her biographer, who was also her nephew, Bernardo de Dominici, wrote extensively about her and about the role she had, or may have had, in Mattia Preti’s bottega,” he said.

Ahead of the exhibition, the Attard painting was restored by Maltese conservators ReCoop with the support of the Gallerie d’Italia. It underwent extensive conservation to stabilise its structure and recover its original colours. Advanced imaging techniques carried out during the restoration revealed earlier restorations, as well as compositional adjustments made by de Dominici herself.

The loan of the three paintings was overseen by the Archdiocese of Malta’s Department of Collections, which oversees the management of the extensive inventory of sacred art and artifacts in the possession of the archdiocese, its parishes and churches.

The archidiocese’s senior collections officer Dr Matthias Ebejer stressed that high-level international loans strengthened institutional relationships and made Malta’s cultural heritage accessible to wider audiences.

Ebejer also observed that seeing de Dominici’s work exhibited along renowned artists including Artemisia Gentileschi and Lavinia Fontana was “an immense honour for Malta and a step toward greater recognition of her contribution”.

The exhibition, curated by Antonio Ernesto Denunzio, Giuseppe Porzio, Raffaella Morselli and Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, runs until 22 March, 2026.