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The background of this painting and the decoration on the figure's robes, halos and angel's wings are made of real gold! Probably part of a church altarpiece, this painting would have sat high on an altar, with its gold background glowing and shimmering in the candlelight. Another clue that tells us that this may have been part of a church altarpiece is that Mary's seat appears too short to hold her when the painting is viewed head on, but from a kneeling position the throne appears to be in the right perspective. The artist who painted the picture created the perspective for kneeling worshippers in a church rather than museum visitors who stand to look at paintings.

European artists used hieratic scale in paintings made during this period, with members of the family of God larger in scale than ordinary or less important figures. Mary and the baby Jesus are larger in scale than the angels surrounding her throne. As the principles of the Medieval Period gave way to Renaissance ideas about the importance of studying the works of human beings rather than the works of God, artists began to depict all figures in the same scale and halos gradually disappeared.

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