Reflecting the classicist spirit of the period, this depiction of the standing Mother of God holding the infant Jesus in her hand, whose hands reach towards the viewer in a skilful foreshortening. At each side, once backed by a green velum, a figure traditionally understood as an angel in classical garb. A drawing by Anton Raphael Mengs (20.1 x 15 cm) of the motif offered here is kept in the Kunsthalle Karlsruhe under inv. no. VIII1982, which differs from the painting offered here only in minor details such as the more compressed head and the less gripping hand.