Previously registered in inventories as an anonymous work, in 1979 this board was attributed by Matías Díaz Padrón to Pieter van Lint, also known as Pierre Lint.
It is a highly significant work by this artist who, after his training in Flanders, to which he owes his delicate and extremely refined technique, spent a few years in Italy (1634-1643) where he acquired an evident Italianate tone, both in his human models, imbued with serene , as well as in the treatment of light with subtle sfumato.
This particular work exemplifies his fusion of both elements: the Italian serenity, captured in the Virgin Mary and in the angel crowning her with flowers, and the Flemish influence, particularly from Rubens, evident in St Elizabeth and St Joseph.
According to the New Testament apocrypha, upon their return from Egypt, Mary, Joseph and the Child took shelter in the home of St Elizabeth, an episode inspiring this infrequent representation of the Holy Family.
The fruit basket St John is holding, an unusual element in the depiction of this theme, has echoes of Flemish still lifes, while the small bunch of grapes the Child Jesus is holding is a symbol and premonition of his Passion.