This work offers several interpretations. It could represent a mother with her two children, perhaps the painter’s family, or, despite the absence of a halo, a Virgin and Child with the infant St John the Baptist.

In a region where reformist religion prohibited all religious imagery, it was not unusual for confusion to exist between sacred and profane evocations, especially for a Catholic clientele. But the gesture of protection and affection could also be an allegory for love. The museum exhibits another work by Van Bijlert, les Quatre Évangélistes (the Four Evangelists), which is slightly older and more in the style of Caravaggio.