A number of versions and copies of this painting exist, of which that in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna is considered to be the primary one, or the closest to it.
The original treatment of the composition is believed to have been executed circa 1527.
The text inscribed around the edge of the niche is based on the verse from Genesis 3:15: MVLIERIS SEMEN IHS SERPENTIS CAPVT CONTRIVIT, the words of God addressing the serpent after the Fall: "it [the seed of the woman] shall bruise thy head."
Gossaert makes the reference to Christ explicit in the way that the Child runs forward, while looking back up at the word serpentis.