Virgin and Child with Sts Simon and Jude (Madonna di San Simone)

This altarpiece was executed for the church of San Francesco in Urbino. In a humble interior set before a rural landscape wrapped in mist, the celestial apparition is imbued with the tender and intimate mood so typical of Barocci. The divine figures painted in bright colours shine out from the grey of the background as does the vermilion drapery. In the lower right corner the two donors of the altarpiece are depicted.