A young child stands at the left, holding a large shell to the lips of another child who kneels to drink from it. The standing figure is draped in a rose-colored cloth, while the kneeling child wears a rough brown garment and leans on a tall reed cross with a fluttering banner. A white lamb sits at their feet, gazing up at the two children from the lower left corner.

Behind the children, three cherubic angels emerge from the softly painted clouds, their hands clasped in gestures of adoration or prayer. The light falls gently from the upper left, illuminating the children's faces and bodies with a warm, golden glow, while the background recedes into shadow and mist. The scene is set outdoors, with leafy plants and a dark tree trunk framing the left edge, and the ground rendered in earthy tones.

Murillo uses delicate, feathery brushstrokes to model the soft flesh of the children and the woolly texture of the lamb, blending edges to create a luminous, atmospheric effect. The composition draws the figures into a close, intimate group, with the shell and the act of drinking forming the focal point at the center. The upper right corner is filled with a soft, clouded sky that transitions from pale gold to a cool bluish-grey, creating a gentle contrast with the warm light on the figures below.

The three angels in the background have chubby, rosy cheeks and are partially enveloped in mist, with only their upper bodies and hands clearly visible. On the ground near the children's feet, green leaves and a few sprigs of grass emerge from the earth, adding detail to the foreground. The edges of the children's hair are softly blurred, blending into the surrounding light and atmosphere, which enhances the dreamlike quality of the scene.

In the lower right corner, the shadowed earth is painted with loose, swirling strokes, suggesting texture without sharp definition. The standing child's foot is lifted slightly, with toes curled against the ground, and the naturalistic rendering of the skin shows subtle pinks and warm tones where the light touches. Bartolomé Estebán Murillo paints this subject around 1670, bringing together religious symbolism and tender childhood interaction.