A Newly Discovered Caravaggio? Bring on the Skeptics

Roberta Lapucci
It’s a painting that was regarded as a copy of a recognized Caravaggio, “St. Jerome Writing,” in the Oratory of St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta. Now Roberta Lapucci says the version that she recently examined is also by the master.
Roberta Who?
The Associated Press has the story, but fails to identify Lapucci. She’s a conservator and has been a faculty member of Studio Art Centers International, an American art school in Florence. Her bio (including Caravaggio credentials) is here.
Alessandra Rizzo reports:
The painting that Lapucci examined in Florence belongs to a private collector in Malta. The collector had sent it to her lab to have it cleaned up for an exhibit featuring the two [St. Jerome] versions side-by-side as part of events marking the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio’s visit to the tiny Mediterranean island nation in 1607-1608.
The early skeptics, quoted by AP, have already weighed in.