SUOR MARIA DE DOMENICIS
Maria De Domenicis was born in Birgu in 1645 to an artistic family. The De Domenicis came to Malta from Naples, her father worked as a silversmith and produced precious objects for the Knights of St John.
Maria De Domenicis was a tertiary nun. That means a nun who could live outside of the convent. She was a student of Mattia Preti. Mattia Preti was very satisfied with Suor Maria De Domenicis’s artistic talents. Raimondo and Francesco, Maria’s brothers, were also assistants of Mattia Preti. Their work shows Preti’s influence. She helped Mattia Preti to paint the famous ceiling of St John’s Cathedral in Valletta.
Together with her brother Francesco, Maria travelled to Italy where she worked as an independent artist. As a painter Maria was superior to Francesco, while her brother Raimondo was equally a very talented artist.
The son of Raimondo, Bernardo De Domenicis, was Mattia Preti’s main biographer. In his Lives of the Neapolitan Artists, where Mattia Preti is mentioned, Bernardo mentions also Maria De Domenicis.
Maria was also a sculptor but unfortunately no other sculpture survives, except the processional statue of Immaculate Conception of Cospicua. Yet, the Cospicua statue was heavily retouched.
There are six paintings attributed to her. The paintings are all religious and show a different style when compared to her brother Raimondo and her Master Mattia Preti. Maria De Domenicis used the same colour scheme, which is typical of Baroque painting as Mattia Preti, she also used his compositions. Yet, her brush work is more angular and the drapery folds are more rigid. She managed to create a style which makes it possible to identify her work. Most probably art-historians will discover more works by her later on.
Maria De Domenicis died in 1703 in Rome where she moved in 1682. Some sources say she met Gian Lorenzo Bernini. She was the first Maltese woman to become an accomplished Artist.
XUEREB Nadette,
Suor Maria de Domenici, The first Maltese female artist and her presence in late Baroque Malta and Rome
A dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History of Art presented in the Department of History of Art, faculty of Arts University of Malta
MAY 2017
Pp 2-20
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_de_Dominici
20/01/2022
