Spot the difference

A supposedly inferior copy of a Caravaggio masterpiece, St Francis in Meditation, is in fact the original painting, according to art experts involved in restoring the painting.

The warmer, more popular version, feted for centuries as the original, was probably painted by Bartolomeo Manfredi, a contemporary of the Italian master, the Rome daily Il Messaggero reported.

Generations of scholars were convinced that the canvas, which hung in a Capuchin church on Via Veneto in Rome, was the real Caravaggio.

Many had considered it superior to a slightly more sombre version in St Peter's church in Carpineto Romano, a town near Rome.

The virtually identical works went on display together for the first time yesterday in Rome's Palazzo Barberini.

It was after using radiography techniques that two restorers - Rossella Vodret and Carlo Giantomassi - said they believed the gloomier painting was the Caravaggio. The mixture of reds, yellows and grains of malachite - a Caravaggio trademark - was present only in the St Peter's painting, they said.

Maurizio Marini, an expert on the artist, was reported as saying that while both works exuded sensory realism, the subtle differences in light and shade, plus the powder used, suggested that the St Peter's version could have been painted only by Caravaggio, probably around 1609, a year before he died at the age of 37.

Ms Vodret and Mr Giantomassi, said they had intended only to save the painting from decay, not uncover a mystery.

A scholar, Maria Vittoria Brugnoli, declared it the original after discovering it in St Peter's in 1968. It is thought to have been donated in the late 19th century by one of Carpineto Romano's most famous sons, Pope Leo XIII.

However, colleagues rebuffed Ms Brugnoli's claim and clung to the view, believed for centuries, that the original was the one hung in Via Veneto.

Uncertainty produced by the abundance of Caravaggio copies would continue to torment scholars and produce more surprises, Il Messaggero predicted. "The copy is of good quality, certainly its charm is even more attractive than the severity of the original," the newspaper said.

The painting features St Francis kneeling before a cross and holding a skull, contemplating death.

Long villified for a scandalous and murderous private life, Caravaggio was rehabilitated in the 19th century. Manfredi is recognised today as a master in his own right.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaK%2Bfp7mle5FpZ2lnnqTDcH2WaKmoqqmYrrO%2BzqWj