- ist gently hinted to the connoisseur that he had been
duped. "Zounds, sir, this cannot be; the picture was valued at $5,000 in Naples, and I was offered very large prices for it by some of the best judges in Paris." The artist, with a little spirits, quickly brought the lines of a print into full view, so that not even a glass was required to see them! It is needless to say that the proprietor was greatly chagrined, and vented his rage in curses loud and deep against foreign impostors. Yet he ordered the coats of varnish to be replaced, and afterwards sold the picture as an original Correggio.
DISCOVERY OF A CORREGGIO.
Among the numerous restorers of old pictures
who resided at Rome about 1780, were two friends,
an Italian named Lovera, and a German named
Hunterspergh. They were both pupils of the Cavaliere
Mengs. They frequented the sales of old pictures
at the Piazza Nuova, as well to purchase the
works of the old masters at a low price, as to supply
themselves with old canvass, which they might
repaint. On one occasion, having bought a lot of
old canvass and divided it between them, Lovera
received as a part of his share a very indifferent
flower-piece. On taking it home, he found that
the ground scaled off, and to his surprise discovered
traces of a figure painted in an admirable style. He
employed himself with the utmost care in removing
the ground which covered the original picture, and
