The scene is set in winter, the time of Christ’s birth. With maternal pride, Mary holds up the baby Jesus, who, with his gaze, invites us to come closer and exhorts us to pray. The knife in the child’s hand is a reference to the circumcision, the first occasion on which Jesus shed his blood. Jordaens represents the divine radiance of the Christ Child – the light of the world – in the intense glow of a candle.