Mary holds the Christ Child in one arm, holding one of his feet with the other. Behind them, two angels look on. One looks at the viewer in a request for silence and reflection upon the image. The scene is framed by an abundant garland of flowers.

This work is the result of a collaboration between Jan Brueghel, who made one of his most exuberant floral works, and Giulio Cesare Procaccini. It was probably commissioned by one of the most important patrons of both artists —Cardinal Federico Borromeo, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan— while they were in his employ. It shows the capacity to merge Flemish and Italian motives and themes.

In the North, garlands framing representations of the Virgin Mary were a forceful answer to Protestant ideas, which rejected the worship of images.