Book excerpt: Professor Jaynie Anderson is an internationally recognised scholar, renowned for her research and publications on the Italian masters. On this occasion she has concentrated on one painting, the National Gallery of Victorias famous Banquet of Antony and Cleopatra by Giambattista Tiepolo. This glorious work of art, considered a centre-piece of the collection has recently undergone restoration in preparation for the re-opening of the National Gallery on St. Kilda Road in December 2003. Jaynie Anderson has collected together a previously under-examined range of Tiepolos drawings and studies - and other versions of the theme by Tiepolo and other Italian artists. She has woven them into the spectacular history of the painting, its production and its various owners prior to coming to Australia (including the Hermitage in St. Petersburg) - not to mention the fascinating stories of Antony and Cleopatra and their suicides, which the author has researched and retells in great detail and considerable passion. The book concludes with a chapter written by the National Gallery of Victorias conservators, John Payne and Carl Villis.