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In this small panel, the Madonna appears in an almond-shaped aura, or mandorla, representing divine light. The cushion supporting her floats in the air and the saints below her have no ground to stand on. Everyday atmospheric effects would have been considered to common for scenes like this. Instead the artists uses a golden background to represent the air of heaven for those who saw these paintings at the beginning of the Renaissance.

European artists used hieratic scale in paintings made during this period, with members of the family of God painted larger in scale than ordinary or less important figures. The Madonna is larger in scale than the saints below her. From left to right the saints are: Saint James, who was killed with a sword for his Christian beliefs; Saint Anthony with a staff, who founded communities of Christians; Saint Catherine with the wheel that was used to torture her (angels broke the wheel before Catherine was hurt); and Saint John, the author of the Gospel of John, holding a book.

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