La Belle Jardinière by Raphael is one of the artist’s most famous works, but there is a slight chance that it’s a fake.

Painted in approximately 1507, La Belle Jardinière is a perfect example of the transition into the High Renaissance. The canvas has that distinctive arched shape and the characters are set in a non-religious setting.There is a lot of nature going on here, including violets, which symbolize the humility of the Virgin Mary and columbines, which are named for their dove-like shape and as such are a symbol of the Passion of the Christ.

The title of the painting literally translates to “the beautiful gardener.” This is kind of sweet at first until you think about how it hints at the fact that it's referring to the fact Jesus is the fruit of Mary’s loins, which might be the grossest phrase of all time. Jesus is shown here standing on his mother’s foot, which indicates a babyhood dependence on one’s mama. But he is also reaching for the Bible in Mary’s lap which details how and when Jesus is going to die. Not exactly a bedtime story. Granted, nursery rhymes are often mildly horrifying, but there is nothing as gruesome as the crucifixion of Christ. Mary, the good mother that she is, is hesitating whether or not to give the book to Jesus. It’s awful and Jesus is just a baby, but if he doesn’t learn his fate from her, he’ll just learn it from one of the other kids...which brings us to tiny Saint John the Baptist. Saint John is kneeling here looking lovingly at Jesus, like any good Saint would. 

There are a few rumors that have been spread about the painting. The first is that Raphael never finished it, and that Ridolfo Ghirlandaio did the rest. Raphael signed it though, so this claim has remained unsubstantiated. The second is that it’s a fake and that the real one resides in Zurich in the safe of Hanspeter Sigg, a lawyer, who says that the painting has been in his family for five generations. Sigg has claimed that he has done a bunch of tests, but no evidence of this has been published. As fun as it would be to see the board members of the Louvre squirm, this too remains to be hearsay.