7 MAY 1910, Page 3

The Committee of experts presided over by Dr. F. G.

Kenyon, invited by the editor of the Morning Post to investigate the signatures which Mr. James Greig and Mr. W. E. Barber discovered on the Rokeby " Venus," have issued their Report, which appeared in Wednesday's papers. Their findings—the result of careful examination of photo- graphs and lantern-slides supplied by Messrs. Greig and Barber, and investigation of the picture itself on two separate days without the glass and in strong daylight—are briefly as follows. Six members are of opinion that the alleged B M (Mazo) signature does not exist. Three believe the markings to be intentional, but do not commit themselves to Mr. Greig's reading. The Committee are divided in the same proportions on the question of the alleged inscription known as " the mallet." As regards the date, the Committee agree in holding the markings to resemble figures, and the majority consider them intentional, but differ as to the reading. No member could recognise the "Menge" signature, while on the question of erasure three expressed no opinion, and four held that there was no deliberate erasure. It will thus bo seen that the Report of the Committee practically lends no support to the attribution of the picture to a painter other than Velazquez.