The artist has used the movement of drapery and intense facial expressions to express the private intangible nature of mystical experience. Barocci, born and trained in Urbino, studied the works of Michelangelo and Raphael during a short stay in Rome and in turn influenced Annibale Carracci. His preparation involved many drawings, from life and wax models from which he studied drapery. St Simon leans on the saw with which he was martyred, St Jude holds a lance while the artist’s patrons appear in the lower right. The portrait of the woman is on paper glued to the canvas.