The picture follows a composition of the same subject, although of a lesser size, now housed in the Louvre Museum. A tent placed behind the characters isolates gestures and emphasises expressions, all of which answer to the only gesture of the Child, lying on a couch, capers around in an attempt to reach a small cross that is shaken like a rattle in front. That gesture giving body to the concerns of adults, however, causes the smiling complicity of St. John who reports it to Mary, receiving in exchange a wave of genuine dismay. With the cleaning operation carried out in the years 1980-1987, the painting has been deprived of the initial tent stretched between two trees, which formed the backdrop to the scene of the Adoration, making visible the various thoughts of the painter before his final version.
