The work represents the Virgin Mary reading while next to here Jesus Child and Saint John Child are playing in a crib. On the ground, there is a little lamb drinking while next to it, there are also a stick and the cartouche "Ecce Agnus Dei", typically related to Saint John. The work was realized by the Genovese artist Giovanni Battista Castello and the staging on the background could be interpreted as a reference to the empty Holy Sepulchre and then to the Christ Resurrection.