LODOVICO CARRACCI's altar-piece of the Annunciation now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna (Fig.l),1 with its drastically simplified style, constitutes a singular experiment even within Lodovico's ceuvre, and seems to have burst on the scene in much the same way as his cousin Annibale's Crucifixion of 1583 - an equally radical experiment of a different kind.2 Because of the importance of the Annunci- ation as an early manifestation of the Carracci reform of painting, its date has been much debated.3 New evidence is furnished in a series of documents preserved in the Archivio di Stato in Bologna, which reveal that Lodovico painted the Annunciation for a location different from the one that has long been assumed, and raise the possibility that his stylistic experiment may have been, in part, a response to the peculiar circumstances of this commission.

FORGERIES concern the archaeologist only rarely and are seldom discussed in scholarly literature,' but a review of recent articles on fakes reveals a remarkable trend away from traditional connoisseurship toward a reliance on scien- tific and technical analyses thought to be more 'objective'. The proliferation of scientific tests has brought a vast number of analyses of all types of material - metals, terra- cotta, organic material, and so on - and the conclusions from these examinations can be highly significant. Many technical and scientific studies, however, are not conclusive, especially in determining authenticity, and often appear to be invoked by archaeologists as a desperate appeal to the unattainable, 'objective' result rather than as a proper study. Forgeries in stone have been especially frustrating, since tests have been of little use, and many peculiar con- clusions have been reached from allegedly scientific analy- ses. The following examples include the most prominent discussions of forgeries of Greek and Roman stone sculpture in recent years, demonstrating the inconsistencies in the methodologies employed.

IN 1988 a private collector brought into the Pushkin Museum in Moscow a superb painting showing a half-length embracing couple (Fig. 13):1 it was immediately clear to me that this was a picture by Simon Vouet from his Roman period.2 This is apparent from the composition in which large-scale half-length figures emerge from the dark background, and from the female type,combining classical coldness with sensuality as is often the case in Vouet's pictures. In fact the picture is recorded as by Vouet in an engraving by Claude Vignon, inscribed: 'I1 Uoueto da parigi in. Vignon desegna. & scult. Roma A0 1618'.

WHEN Cezanne's landscape now known as Les maisons provenfales (Fig.16) was sold at auction in 1965, it was catalogued as Maisons a* L'Estaque.' That was the designation under which it had been known for many years and was listed (as no.397) by Venturi.2 Previously it had gone by various titles, notably Gardanne, when it was shown at the Venice Biennale of 1920.3 However, it definitely does not represent Gardanne, where Cezanne worked only in 1885-86.