Rev. Dr Joseph Bezzina (The Sunday Times, August 16) has 'corrected' my statement that "Prof. Mario Buhagiar ... identified the artist (of the painted 'false' cupola of the Gozo Cathedral) as Antonio Pippi" (Gozo Supplement, The Sunday Times, August 9). He stated that "the 'false dome' is actually by the prolific artist Antonio Manuele of Messina and not Pippi as stated by [me]".

My modest contribution on the painted dome in the Gozo Supplement was intended to add colour and at the same time to draw the attention of those who visit the Cathedral to the wonderful work of art that is this trompe l'oeil, the likes of which are found elsewhere and are in no way superior to it.

In the meantime I took the opportunity to refer readers to what has been 'discovered' by Prof. Buhagiar, who is head of the Department of History of Art at the University of Malta, and published in 'Antonio Pippi - A Forgotten Quadraturista', in Treasures of Malta, Vol. IX, No. 2, Malta, 2003.

In his study, Prof. Buhagiar names the artist as Antonio Pippi; nowhere does he infer that 'Pippi' is his nickname. Pippi is given in the title and throughout the article as Antonio's surname. I acknowledged this in my article.

Any new information about the artist would be more than welcome. That is the spirit and beneficial aspect of scholarly research.

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