In the large altarpiece commissioned for the Church of S. Agostino in Ancona, the signature of the Venetian Lorenzo Lotto stands out on the first step. The monumental layout shows the Madonna and Child on a high throne, at the foot of which are the Saints Stephen, John the Evangelist, Simone Giuda and Lorenzo, all recognizable by the presence of their respective attributes.

The rarer Simone Giuda, eponym of the client Simone di Giovannino de 'Pizoni, carries an unusual halberd on which he rests strongly, turning with a resolute and eloquent air towards the observer. The painting was ordered from Lotto in August 1538, the year in which the tyranny exercised by the Cardinal legate Benedetto Accolti and the German lansquenets armed with halberds ended in the city. The weapon, turned upside down and broken, would symbolize the defeat of the usurper and the end of tyranny. As in other works by Lotto, the symmetry of the composition is broken by the variety of attitudes, looks and the agitated figure of the Child, towards whom the lines of force converge. The rarefied atmosphere and the light of a late afternoon are the result of the use of more muted colors and of the contrasts between the illuminated and shaded areas.