Comic stars in the picture

It's really no way to treat a laydeee - but it's bound to go down well with comedy fans.

Little Britain's David Walliams - as terrible transvestite Emily Howard - and Matt Lucas in guise as Daffyd 'The Only Gay In The Village' Thomas have usurped the Madonna and her baby in an eye-catching parody of Raphael's original.

And it doesn't stop there - among other names put to canvas are Bruce Forsyth as Frans Hals's The Laughing Cavalier, Peter Kay and Baddiel and Skinner. Talk show host Paul O'Grady appears in Ficherelli's The Rape of Lucretia, about to kill off his alter ego Lily Savage.

And X Factor judge Simon Cowell appears with a naked Sharon Osbourne tickling his chin in a take on Ingres's 19thcentury Jupiter and Thetis.

The paintings were commissioned for the 15th British Comedy Awards on London's South Bank next week.