Nine masterpieces from Malta's national collection are currently on display in Rome as part of a major exhibition. 

Works by Jusepe de Ribera, Matthias Stom and Francesco de Mura are on display at the Palazzo Barberini alongside paintings from the Barberini collection, as part of an exhibition entitled Mediterraneo in Chiaroscuro – Ribera, Stomer e Preti da Malta a Roma.

These include Jusepe de Ribera’s St Stephen, Matthias Stom’s The Lamentation over the Dead Abel, The Beheading of St John the Baptist, The Parable of the Good Samaritan and Francesco de Mura’s Allegory of Malta.

All nine works will eventually be displayed in Malta's community art museum, il-MUŻA.

This is the first time that masterpieces from the national collection are exhibited together with paintings from the Rome collection as well as the beginning of a long-term collaboration between the two museums. 

The exhibition is also being put up on the occasion of the Maltese Presidency of the European Union and with the support of Arts Council Malta. It is jointly curated by Alessandro Cosma of the National Art Gallery of Rome and Sandro Debono, Senior Curator of MUŻA at Heritage Malta.

Matthias Stom’s The Lamentation over the Dead Abel. Photo: Heritage Malta