The story
In early 2022 a young Saint John the Baptist, bending to drink from a spring in the dark, went on public view in Valletta for the first time. The painting had stayed with the family of Vincenzo Bonello, the first curator of Malta's fine arts collections, since he acquired it in the early 20th century, and his heirs lent it to MUŻA for ten years. Scholars including Roberto Longhi accepted it as a late Caravaggio, painted around 1608 during his time on Malta. Others dispute the attribution or reserve judgement.
The picture fits here, because MUŻA is Malta's national museum of art and the Order of Saint John is everywhere in it. Since 2018 the museum has occupied the Auberge d'Italie, built from 1574 as the lodging of the Order's Italian knights, with a design by Girolamo Cassar, the Maltese architect of much of early Valletta. A storey was added in 1683, and the bronze bust of Grand Master Gregorio Carafa still looks down from above the door. The name is short for Mużew Nazzjonali tal-Arti, and the move from its old home in Admiralty House came with Valletta's year as European Capital of Culture.
Inside, the strongest group is the paintings of Mattia Preti, the Calabrian knight and painter who covered the vault of Saint John's Co-Cathedral. There are also works by Caravaggio's followers, Maltese painters across the centuries, and a watercolour of the Grand Harbour by the English painter J. M. W. Turner.
