Representing, respectively, Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist and the Marriage of Mary. Framed measurements: 223 x 318 cm. Canvas measurements: 188 x 283 cm (each one). Provenance: important Spanish private collection. We find ourselves before an exceptional pair of oil representations, which without harshness, must be framed within the scope of the Bapolitan Baroque school, and, more specifically, within the scope of the brilliant Calabrian painter Matia Preti. Preti (Taverna, Calabria, 1613-La Valletta, 1699), born in Taverna, Calabria, is one of the most outstanding painters of the Neapolitan school of the second half of the 17th century. Known by the nickname "Il Cavalier Calabrese", the writer Bernardo de Dominici included him in his work Vite dei pittori, scultori ed architetti napoletani, one of the sources to turn to for his biography. He moved to Rome together with his brother Gregory around 1628. There he is first mentioned in the Academy of Saint Luke in 1632, enrolling as a painter, along with Gregory, a year later. In 1661 he would move to Malta, being knighted and working there until the end of his life. This did not prevent him from continuing to receive commissions from the churches of Naples, the city where he had left the best imprint of his art. In the Prado Museum it has been linked to three works: a drawing for the decoration of a ceiling, The Water from the Rock, a canvas from the Buen Retiro Palace, where it is cited in 1701, and La Gloria, bought in 1969. Reference bibliography: Mattia Preti, Rome, Fratelli Palombi, 1989, pp. 15-50 and 107, Fig. 62; Perez Sanchez, Alfonso E., Italian painting of the 17th century in Spain, Madrid, Fundación Valdecilla, 1965, p. 421