La Tour presents a collective scene here which, like his "Saint Sebastian", represents an unusual approach for this artist. However, we can notice that the figures are grouped together within a beam of light, as if to form a single unit around the newborn baby.

The baby is the source factor for the group's presence, and the light he seems to radiate illuminates the entire scene.

We have already had occasion to notice, in La Tour's secular works, the skilfully executed discrepancy between the impassive faces of the protagonists and the active participation of their hands. Here, the key to the plot lies at another level, in the crib all the way to the bottom. Nothing is random or simplistic in this composition, from the solemnity of the figures to the cautious play of all their hands, from the manner in which the lines of force are organized to how the light is distributed. Everything is superbly orchestrated to favor our encounter with the newborn child. Our gaze is guided downwards towards him, while at the same time the work's subtle and luminous architecture carries him upwards towards us.