[William Tell]

"Must be a fascinating story."

I've heard that the Nazi occupiers during WWII stole much art work from occupied countries to take back to Germany.

Perhaps this item was stolen by Nazis and somehow ended up in this kitchen. Alternatively, perhaps some French patriots arranged for this work to be in the kitchen to prevent it from reaching Germany.

[decal]

Maybe, but I think it was earlier than that - there was a lot of warfare going on between the French and the Papal States during the first half of the 16th century. Napoleon went through there, too.