'Francesco Noletti: The Grand Roman Baroque Still-life', the first major presentation of Noletti’s work, displays the artist’s extraordinary talent and virtuosity and assesses for the first time the influence he exerted on the Roman Baroque tradition of still-life painting.
Organised by the Department of History of Art within the Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, and held at the University of Malta’s Valletta Campus, the exhibition showcases impressive paintings by Francesco Noletti (c.1611–54) and presents them in a paragone with the work of his followers. The restored halls of the upper floor of the Valletta Campus, which has housed the only known portrait of Francesco Noletti (albeit posthumous) for some 275 years, provides the ideal setting for this exhibition. Most of the works come from private collections and are being shown in public for the first time.
Francesco Noletti, called il Maltese (and popularly known as Francesco Fieravino) is one of the most significant yet enigmatic artists in the study of still-life painting of the Roman seicento. His work encapsulates the spirit of the ‘baroque still-life’, primarily through a typology of ‘carpet paintings’ that he popularised in Rome during the 1640s and early 1650s. Francesco Noletti is credited to have significantly imprinted theatrically-placed heavy folded carpets as the primary focus of his impressive still-life compositions, with such folds animating and dominating the painting rather than being merely tactile covers of tables or ledges on which the objects were placed. The thick impasto and monumental folds of Noletti’s carpets imbued his works with a forceful movement, tactile richness and theatricality that responded perfectly to the baroque manner of the ‘main-stream’ artists.
The exhibition will be held from 28 April to 8 June at the University of Malta Valletta Campus. Opening hours are from 09:00 to 17:00 from Monday to Friday and on Saturdays from 09:00 to 12:00 noon. Entrance is free.
For details call on +356 2340 2561 or +356 2340 7517.