An international team of scientists from the United States and the United Kingdom used artificial intelligence tools to examine Raphael’s painting “Our Lady with the Rose” and concluded that the work bears contributions from hands other than the master. The investigation appears in the scientific journal Heritage Science.
Our Lady with the Rose has drawn the gaze of art historians for more than a century. Located in the Prado Museum in Madrid, the painting portrays the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus, with John the Baptist and Saint Joseph also present. Over time, researchers have suggested that Raphael may have relied on assistants while shaping the composition, a possibility that has sparked ongoing discussion about authorship and collaboration in Renaissance studios.
To evaluate these ideas, a team from Bradford University in the United Kingdom developed an algorithm designed to recognize Raphael’s stylistic fingerprints with a high degree of precision. The neural network analyzed the image and surfaced indicators that Joseph’s likeness may have been executed by someone other than Raphael. The researchers propose that the co-creator could have been Giulio Romano, a known student and follower of the master who was active in the same workshop milieu.
This kind of approach mirrors a broader shift in art history, where computational methods are increasingly used to test claims about authorship and workshop practices. Earlier work in this vein noted similar patterns in other renowned paintings, illustrating how AI can complement traditional connoisseurship by highlighting features that warrant closer scholarly scrutiny. In the case of Raphael, the new findings add another layer to the debate about how much a master’s hand shapes a composition versus how much collaboration shapes a finished work.
The study also follows a growing trend in which technology reveals long-standing artistic practices. For instance, previous investigations connected Rembrandt with a technical choice in one of his well-known works, a lead-based lining used to support the panel during creation. This kind of material analysis helps art historians understand the practical challenges artists faced and the technical tools they employed, offering context for evaluating authorship in historical moments. The interplay between material science, image analysis, and stylistic interpretation is reshaping how museums and researchers discuss attribution and provenance in the Renaissance era, and it underscores the value of interdisciplinary collaboration in cultural heritage studies.