Fresco fragment revives Papal scandal

A fresco painting by a Renaissance master which once decorated the bedroom of Pope Alexander VI in the Vatican has gone on show in Rome.

A leading Italian art historian and curator says he has documentary proof that it was once part of a much larger painting depicting the aged Pope kneeling in front of his youthful mistress, Giulia Farnese.

This is an unusual example of "damnatio memoriae" - a Latin phrase meaning "damnation of memory".

It refers to a custom dating back to antiquity - the attempted removal of a famous person from the historical record for reasons of dishonour.