Madonna degli Scalzi with Saints Francis and Jerome

The Madonna degli Scalzi is an 1590 oil on canvas altarpiece by Ludovico Carracci, from c. 1590.

[1] Caracci painted this altarpiece for the Bentivoglio chapel of the church of the Madonna degli Scalzi in Bologna.

While Jerome does not put down his bible, a book at the feet of Francis is overtaken by the vision of the Madonna.

With a sheer veil on her head, a glowing halo, and a crown of stars, the virgin gazes forward and down, where the visitors to the church would have been.

She walks atop a crescent moon, and early depiction of a symbol of her Immaculate conception.