Purported Caravaggio painted by student

ROME, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- A panel of art scholars assembled by Rome museums superintendent Rossella Vodret has determined a work thought to be a Caravaggio was not painted by the master.

"The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," which has been hanging in a Jesuit church in Rome, was painted by a later member of a school inspired by Caravaggio, ANSA said.

Although the Vatican daily l'Osservatore Romano reported last month the possibility of the painting's origins based largely on the saint's body movement, members of the panel of scholars said they never truly suspected the work was a newly discovered creation by the 16th century master.

Experts including Vodret, Gianni Papi, Marco Bona Castellotti and Sybille Ebert Schifferer told ANSA their investigation will continue in September.