A scene depicting Saint John as a young boy with Christ as an infant and the Virgin Mary and Joseph in a wooded landscape setting. Mary is seated at the base of a tree in the lower left corner of the composition, seen in profile facing the right with her head turned away from the viewer; the infant Christ, wearing only transparent drapery around His middle is held in place by Mary as he stands between her knees and also turns away from the viewer to point at the young Saint John sitting on a grassy bank in the centre of the picture. In the lower right corner is the seated figure of Joseph, seen in profile facing the left, his chin resting on his left hand, the elbow of which is placed upon his right knee. Saint John is seated above a spring of water that trickles from the base of the bank on which he is seated; he is forward facing with his head inclined downwards to the left towards Christ, his right arm extended towards Him in an open-palmed gesture and holding a staff entwined with ribbon in his left hand.