 He was employed as a draughtsman in the office of the architect James Gandon for nearly three years during the building of the Custom House, but was eventually dismissed.He is first recorded as an artist in 1790, when he sent two drawings to the Society of Artists in London from an address in Dublin.Malton is best known for "Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin", a series of 25 prints originally published between 1792 and 1799.