The gallery is dedicated to Dr John Bugeja Caruana (1940–2026), whose large donations have enriched the museum’s collections. These works by Maltese or artists with Maltese connections during the British period in Malta, vary in form, subject, and technique. From the ships and fortresses in the Grand Harbour to the spirituality of religious art, each piece offers a unique perspective on the hopes, tensions, and contradictions of modernity. Topographical landscape paintings, Orientalist views, political caricatures, and evolving portraiture further reveal how artists responded to a rapidly changing world.
 
At the turn of the 19th century, the political and social instability of the island had a great influence on the local artistic scene. During the late 18th century Maltese artists were still entrapped in the Baroque style. However, following the turmoil years of the early 1800s, a significant shift in Maltese art was taking place, with a new wave of artists, both local and foreign. Maltese artists were being inspired by the artistic scene in Rome, which included Neoclassicism, Purism and the Nazarenes art movements. While other topographic artists who ventured in Malta were inclined to the romantic style, popular in Naples at the time.
 
Amongst the exhibits one can see works by, Amadeo Preziosi, Edward Lear, Friedrich Overbeck, Giuseppe Calì, Girolomo Gianni, Anton Schranz and others.

Gallery Highlights

MMM JCB Highlight Preziosi — Mdina Cathedral Museum, Malta

Turkish Bazaar by AMADEO PREZIOSI

This vivid watercolour painting of an antiquities’ open market is by Maltese artist Count Amadeo Preziosi, whose artistic journey took him to the East, where he established himself. Here the artist shows his deep understanding of the intricacies of Istanbul’s society. His watercolours of Turkey in the 1860s grew in sophistication, some of which were commissioned for royal collections. Signed and dated 1854.
MMM JCB Highlight Overbeck — Mdina Cathedral Museum, Malta

Christ on the Mount of Olives by JOHANN FRIEDRICH OVERBECK

Overbeck was a prominent German religious painter and leader of the Nazarenes, a group of artists who aimed to revive medieval art. In Malta the Nazarene movement inspired several Maltese artists to pursue their artistic training in Rome. The artistic simplicity of this painting's composition and the delicate colour harmonies reflects the artist’s pursuit of spiritual purity.
MMM JCB Highlight Lear — Mdina Cathedral Museum, Malta

Grand Harbour by Edward Lear

A watercolour painted in the studio from a lost on-site sketch. A detailed and colourful painting showing the entrance to Malta's main harbour on the horizon flanked on the sides by Valletta's and Cottonera's fortifications viewed from Marsa. From the ships' reflections and cast shadows on the water and the contre-jour light causing strong contrasts between light and dark emphasizing lines and shapes, it must have been painted in the earliest hours of the day.