Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Francis, Matthew, Louis of Toulouse (left), John the Evangelist, Anthony Abbot and Peter Martyr (right)

Palmezzano's elaborate altarpiece showing the Virgin and Child Enthroned with six saints — Francis, Matthew, Louis of Toulouse, John the Evangelist, Anthony Abbot, and Peter Martyr — in the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, represents the fully developed sacra conversazione format as practised in the Romagna for major ecclesiastical commissions. The six saints' combination reflects the multiplicity of religious orders and dedicatory interests that a large institutional patron would represent: Franciscan (Francis, Louis of Toulouse, Anthony Abbot), Dominican (Peter Martyr), evangelist (Matthew, John). Such comprehensive saint-assemblages typically reflected chapels with multiple altarpiece dedications, confraternal memberships of several orders, or the accumulated votive obligations of a wealthy patron family. The Walker's Italian collection includes this as one of its principal examples of Romagnol Renaissance painting.

A six-figure sacra conversazione on a single panel or canvas requires careful management of the hierarchical space — the Madonna enthroned at the compositional apex with the saints arranged in two groups of three to either side. Palmezzano's approach uses a raised throne as the spatial and hierarchical centre, with the flanking saints on a lower plane, their arrangement calibrated to give each figure sufficient visual weight and attribute legibility.