Madonna in trono con Bambino, San Sebastiano, San Procolo, Sant'Agostino, San Giovanni Evangelista e due angeli

Francesco Francia was the leading painter of Bologna in the 1490s and served as the official designer of coinage for the Bentivoglio lords — a position that gave him both financial security and deep familiarity with metallic precision of finish. This Madonna in trono with Sebastian, Procolo, Augustine, John the Evangelist, and two angels (1494) is typical of his sacre conversazioni for Bolognese churches and confraternities. Sebastian and Procolo were joint patrons of Bologna's cathedral, giving this painting a civic-religious character. Francia's gentle Umbrian-inflected style — learned partly from Perugino's work — set the standard for Bolognese devotional painting for a generation.

Francia's technique reflects his goldsmith training: surfaces are polished to a high finish, transitions between areas of color are seamless, and metallic details — armor, halos, throne ornament — are rendered with a jeweler's precision. His flesh modeling is soft and luminous, influenced by Perugino's sfumato but with a greater solidity. The architectural throne is elaborate and spatially convincing, with inlaid marble panels rendered in trompe-l'oeil.