This is the story of how Hitler almost raped the Virgin Mary...well, figuratively speaking.  

Actually, this particular Mary was no virgin.  Artist Simon Vouet married Virginia da Vezzo, a model who posed for his Madonnas, the same year this was painted.  Thus Vouet was most likely deflowering the model for Mary even as he was painting her as the virgin mother of Jesus.

According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins, though the Bible never mentions them playing together as babies.  John the Baptist’s mother was Elizabeth, who miraculously conceived after menopause.  Of course, Mary was a virgin who got pregnant by immaculate conception, so she wins.  As an adult, John went on to be executed after Princess Salome did a sexy dance for her stepdaddy King Herod in exchange for John’s head on a platter.  We all know what happened to Jesus when he grew up.

Joseph, Mary’s husband, is left behind in the shadows as usual.  Poor Joseph couldn’t catch a break.  First his fiancee gets pregnant before they’ve even had sex, he’s a good sport and marries her anyway, then has to explain to everyone just how his supposedly virgin wife got knocked up.  Furthermore, while the Bible suggests that after Jesus’ birth, Mary and Joseph consummated their marriage and had natural children, Catholics and other denominations uphold that Mary remained a virgin her entire life.  That’s a lot of nights sleeping on the couch, poor guy.

This painting originally belonged to the Barberini family, a noble Italian line which included Pope Urban VIII.  The Barberini had a reputation for flagrantly exploiting church funds and indulgences.  Their former palace now houses the National Gallery of Ancient Art, in Rome.  This piece later passed into the hands of Mildred Anna Williams.

Mildred Anna Williams was a Bay Area girl who married lumber tycoon Henry Knapp Skelding Williams after he helped her with car trouble by the side of the road.  Together, these husband-wife adventurers traveled around the world twice, picking up art along the way, even road-tripping through North Africa.  Mildred’s friend, San Francisco art maven Alma Spreckels, convinced them into leaving their collection to the Legion of Honor, on condition that it remain in their Paris home until their deaths.

When Mildred died on the eve of World War II, Henry urged the museum to claim the collection early, fearing his wife’s treasures may fall victim to the Rape of Europa (the Nazi's mass plundering of Europe’s masterpieces).  The Legion of Honor staged an emergency art evacuation, spiriting the collection out of Paris just before the Nazis marched in.  If not for this dramatic rescue, this painting may have ended up in Hitler’s living room.

In later life, Henry K. S. Williams lived in San Francisco six months out of the year, and visited the Legion of Honor almost daily.  He viewed the collection as comfortably as if he were in his own parlour, probably reminiscing about his beloved Mildred.