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This panel of the Madonna nursing her child transforms a common, maternal activity into an icon of devotion and is painted with Fei's special feeling for decorative richness and technical refinement. The engaged frame is original, as are the gold-backed, glass medallions with images of the Annunciation, saints, and the head of Christ - a technique known as verre églomisé. The central medallion on the Virgin's cloak is also in verre églomisé and depicts the head of Christ.
The picture may have been painted for a domestic setting, but it is worth noting that occasionally pictures of this format were also adapted for use on an altar. Such, for example, is the case with a Madonna Lactans by Fei, which was incorporated as the centrepiece of an elaborate altar in the cathedral of Siena commissioned from Andrea Bregno by Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini in the 1480s.
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