Set in the arches of a large Gothic church, this picture presents the Virgin Mother, the Infant Christ and an angel in an unusual composition. The Virgin sits to the right of the scene looking down towards her son who stands before her. She holds what appears to be a small fruit (perhaps a fig) delicately in her right hand. The Christ Child has his arms outstretched and he is mid-step towards him mother, reaching for the fruit. He is steadied by a stooping angel behind him. The angel has wings made from peacock feathers. In Christianity the peacock is a symbol of immortality and consequently of Christ’s Resurrection, deriving from the ancient belief that the flesh of a peacock never decayed.

Through an arched doorway, behind the standing angel, a small figure of a soldier carrying a lance can be seen. It is possible that this figure signifies Longinus; the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus in his side with a lance (which became the ‘Holy Lance’) while he was on the cross. If so, this represents the future of the Infant Christ and the Mother and Child’s foreknowledge of the Crucifixion. Two angels with coloured wings look down on the scene from the triforium. Behind Mary is a table laden with a white cloth, a ewer, tongs, a large plate (possibly a paten) and other vessels. This might signify a Communion table; where Holy Communion occurs, thus once more indicating the future of the Christ Child and the traditions of the Christian faith.

When this work entered the Royal Collection it was given the title The Infant Christ Learning to Walk; a rare subject in Christian art and an episode not discussed in the Bible. It is now described more simply as The Virgin and Child with an angel.