[1] The scene is set in an open space, with the Madonna in the middle, adoring the Child while kneeling on a stony area within a crumbling wall, while to her right St. Joseph is sleeping, and to her left two shepherds pray.

The blasted tree on which he leans has born fruit on a single branch; the usual interpretation of this traditional feature is of the mystic renewal of Nature under the new dispensation.

[2] Several flaws in the perspective have induced scholars to assign this work to a date near that of the first frescoes executed by Mantegna in the Ovetari Chapel, in particular to the first scenes of the Life of St. James (1448-1450).

The attention to detail has been explained by the influence of the Flemish School, which Mantegna could study in the Este family collection, perhaps through a direct knowledge of Rogier van der Weyden.

The grotesque portraits of the shepherds, such as their wrinkles and other realistic details, show the influence of northern European examples.