THE large archaeological fantasy (oil on canvas, 96 by 144.5 cm.), acquired in 1983 in Vienna by the Prince of Liechtenstein for his collection in the Schloss Vaduz (Inv. No.740), is signed by the artist, Hermannus Posthumus, and dated 1536 (Fig.2; Fig.3, No.32; Fig.4). In this same issue (see page 433), Nicole Dacos places this hitherto almost unknown painter in his artistic context; here I shall consider the picture's content. Painted in the year of the entry of Charles V into Rome, it is a fascinating document of the archaeological milieu early in the reign of Paul III. The papal brief of 28th November 1534, appointing Latino Giovenale Manetti as Commissioner of Antiqui-ties, eloquently describes the precarious state of Roman monuments which must be protected from fire, theft, pillage, ivy, brambles, neglect - dangers as eternal as Rome itself.

UNTIL now the painter Hermannus Posthumus has been known only for his work between 1540 and 1542 at Land-shut, where Duke William of Landshut-Bavaria, a relative of the Gonzaga family, had added to his residence an Italianate wing modelled on the Palazzo del Te in Mantua, thus bringing the culture of Giulio Romano and his circle to southern Germany. The artist is mentioned several times in the accounts as 'Meister Herman', along-side the painters Ludwig Reffinger and Hans Bocksberger, and signed his full name on the Adoration of the Magi, the predella to the chapel's altar-piece of the Nativity, which, as well as containing reminiscences of Rome, shows a knowledge of the work of Jan van Scorel and Jan Vermeyen. We can assume that he was a native of the Netherlands who must have spent time in Italy before being called to Bavaria.

MODERN Caravaggio criticism has been virtually unanimous in dating the Dormition of the Virgin in the Louvre (Fig. 16), intended for the Cherubino Chapel in S. Maria della Scala, Rome, to the years 1605-06; most scholars consider it the master's last Roman altar-piece. The circumstances of the famous sale in March 1607 to the Duke of Mantua, following the picture's rejection, have appeared to argue for a recent completion; and this may have encouraged critics to seek direct stylistic links with the Neapolitan works - in any case, such links have been discerned. Even the power of elemental tragedy which marks the painting has been associated with the gathering sense of disaster in Caravaggio's own life.

ACCORDING to a receipt of 1716 the Duke of Parma, Francesco Farnese, gave in partial payment for two paintings, one by Schedoni representing 'St Mary Magdalen in the desert with three angels' and the other a 'Nativity of St John the Baptist' by Giulio del Purgo, four hexagonal panels painted by Bertoia, marked on the back with the number 6 (see Appendix).

CARAVAGGIO'S painting of a moody young boy playing the lute with music thrown open on the table before him and a still life consisting of violin with bow, fruit and vegetables and a vase of flowers is said to have been the artist's favourite work. The painter Giovanni Baglione, Caravaggio's contemporary biographer and sometime professional rival, informs us that Caravaggio declared 'che fu il più bel pezzo che facesse mai', the only comment which has been recorded as to Caravaggio's feelings about his own work.

AS part of the quatercentenary celebrations of Rubens's birth, Jacques Foucart and Jean Lacambre appended an 'Essai de Répertoire' to their fascinating catalogue of Le Siècle de R ubens dans les collections publiques françaises; and under Rubens at Aix-en-Provence they listed No. 111 as 'La Vierge, I'Enfant Jésus et sainte Anne, (d'après?)'. This is the painting (Fig.31) at the Musée Granet, which was acquired in 1820 from Fauris de Saint Vincens. In the Gibert catalogue of 1862 it appeared as No.97 'anonyme, école flamande'; and in the Pontier catalogue of 1900 it did not appear at all. It seems otherwise unrecorded.

STEPHEN Buckley's work first began to be exhibited in the late 1960s, when the artist was in his mid-twenties, and attracted immediate acclaim for its exuberant and resourceful dis-mantling of some of the conventions of painting. Appropriating different visual languages and techniques and rephrasing them in personal terms so as to maintain a critical distance from any of his sources, Buckley steered an independent route which allowed him to be a sophisticated and at the same time a highly intuitive artist. Nearly twenty years later he remains as stubbornly aloof and as difficult to categorise as ever.