Many of us think that the ceiling and lunette paintings in the upper corridors of the Grand Masters Palace in Valletta date from the time of the Order.

This is mostly true, but an appreciative audience heard last Monday that a series of 22 lunette paintings in the corridor from the Tapestry Chamber to what today is the House of Parliament were painted in the British period by none other than the grandfather of Judge Giovanni Bonello, an artist by the name of Giovanni Bonello, after whom his grandson was named.

And towards the end of the lecture, the audience was further surprised when Judge Bonello revealed his grandfather had painted those lunettes when he was in a wheelchair as he suffered from paralysis.

This was the fifth lecture in the series organised by Salvator Mousù entitled “Rediscovering the Grand Masters’ Palace”. Sandro Debono, Heritage Malta’s Senior Curator for Arts and Palaces, delivered the lecture.

The corridors on the first floor of The Palace are the principal walkways linking the various halls of office. The ceiling paintings show an illusionist display of architectural features (known as quadratura) by 18th century Tuscan artist Nicolò Nasoni (1657-1736).

These paintings were produced in 1727 during the magistracy of Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena (1722-1736), giving the palace corridors the grandiose, if structurally impossible, appearance of architectural bravura.

The lunette paintings along these corridors, apart from a number that represent early 18th century naval assaults and actions of the fleet of the Order of St John against the Ottoman Turks, also include Maltese landscapes and buildings.

The latter were painted by Giovanni Bonello in 1887.

It seems that these British era lunettes replaced other paintings of naval battles from the time of the Order.

More importantly, it would seem that the aim behind these paintings was political – they aimed to boost not just Malta’s image, but also the British connection with Malta and also to portray the British rulers as the natural heirs of the glory that was the Order’s reign.

Some of these lunettes have a bearing on the date in which they were painted. For instance, the one of the Upper Barrakka does not show the British additions and the Customs House that came later. The Porta del Monte lunette shows the old main entrance to Valletta from the Grand Harbour side that was pulled down to create the Victoria Gate in 1885.

One other scene shows Casa Leone with Qormi’s St George church in the background. The one that shows Ħaġar Qim no doubt reminded viewers that excavations of this site had taken place in the preceding two years. There is a painting that could be that of the old medieval cathedral of Mdina, which was destroyed in the 1693 earthquake.

Through his researches at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Mr Debono discovered that many of the paintings were copied from older lithographs by Michele Bellanti, who, together with Gianni and Brockdorff, catered to essentially the same clientele – British visitors who wanted a memento of Malta. (There was a booklet Souvenir de Malte with 10 scenes in it, including one of the Anglican cathedral in Valletta and the appellation ‘Devil’s Den’, which is even more graphic in Maltese – tokbah tax-xitan)

Other structures portrayed in the lunettes do not refer to Malta and Mr Debono believes they are to be found in England such as an octagonal tower in Tunbridge Wells, and another of a bridge that has since been modified in Bath.

One must remember that what today is the Parliament Chamber used to be the Armoury. While access today is mainly by way of the circular stairs with narrow steps with a list of all the Grand Masters at the bottom and the British governors at the top, the, today little-used, grand stairway from the clock tower courtyard was the main and ceremonial entrance through the Armoury to the Tapestry Chamber and the rest of the State Rooms.

The British took great care with the displays in the Armoury but sometimes their enthusiasm was dangerous. Sir Walter Scott and Thackeray must have visited the Armoury when they were in Malta and got ideas about later writings such as Ivanhoe from it. There was even a British colonel who ‘borrowed’ the most beautiful coat of arms in the Armoury, the gold-encrusted suit of armour of Grand Master de Wignacourt, had it shortened (because it was too big for him) and took part in the famous Eglinton Tournament in Scotland in 1839.

The Eglinton Tournament of 1839 was a re-enactment of a medieval joust and revel held in Scotland on Friday 30 August.

It was funded and organised by Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, and took place at Eglinton Castle, near Kilwinning in Scotland. The Queen of Beauty was Georgiana Sheridan, the wife of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset and sister of noted author Caroline Norton. Many distinguished visitors took part, including the future Napoleon III of France.