[2][3] The Uffizi describes the work as follows:[4] One of the most celebrated portraits of the Italian Renaissance, the diptych features the Duke of Urbino Federico da Montefeltro (1422–1482) and his wife Battista Sforza (1446–1472).

In the tradition of the fourteenth century, inspired by the design of ancient coins, the two figures are shown in profile, an angle that ensured a good likeness and a faithful representation of facial details without allowing their sentiments to show through: indeed, the Duke and Duchess [sic] of Urbino appear unaffected by turmoil and emotions.

The master painter marries the strict approach to perspective learned during his Florentine education with the lenticular representation more characteristic of Flemish painting, achieving extraordinary results and unmatched originality.

[3][7] She suggests instead that the diptych was commissioned by someone else (perhaps Lorenzo de' Medici) as a gift both to honor him for his triumphant military campaign at Volterra in 1472 and to console him for the loss of his beloved young wife, who had become ill in his absence and died soon after his return.

Their iconography is based on a complex tradition dating back to the Roman triumph, which was further enriched by a series of allegorical poems by the 14th-century Italian poet Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch).

His inscription can be translated as follows: The famous one is drawn in glorious triumph Whom, equal to the supreme age-old captains, The fame of his excellence fitly celebrates, As he holds his scepter.