Vatican reverses itself, painting not a Caravaggio

Vatican City: The Vatican`s top art historian has shot down a report in its own newspaper that suggested a recently discovered painting was a Caravaggio.

The head of the Vatican Museums, Antonio Paolucci, wrote Monday in the Vatican newspaper L`Osservatore Romano that the work, discovered in the sacristy of a Jesuit church in Rome, was most likely a copy of an original painted by a Caravaggio student. It was L`Osservatore Romano itself which last week set the art world aflutter with a front-page article "A New Caravaggio," detailing the artistry behind the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence." While the author of the first article had made clear that diagnostic tests were required, the impression given was that the painting was indeed a Caravaggio. Bureau Report