A group of seven figures stands closely gathered on a black-and-white tiled floor, their forms pressed together in a shallow space before a backdrop of tall, vertical drapery. At the center, a bearded priest in a white robe and tall mitre joins the hands of a young woman in blue and a man in yellow and green, enacting the marriage of the Virgin. The Virgin, draped in a voluminous blue mantle, bows her head gently as she extends her right hand toward Joseph, whose yellow cloak catches the light and dominates the right foreground.

Joseph’s face, shadowed and intent, meets the priest’s gaze, while his left hand supports the Virgin’s, creating a triangle of hands at the composition’s core. Behind the priest, three male witnesses cluster together, their faces rendered with expressive brushwork and deep shadows, each distinguished by different colored garments: red, gold, and blue. The curtain backdrop, painted in broad, vertical strokes of gray and white, isolates the figures from any architectural setting and heightens the drama of the scene.

Light falls from the left, illuminating the Virgin’s blue robe and the priest’s white vestments, while the other figures recede into shadow, their faces and hands emerging from the darkness. El Greco uses elongated forms and swirling drapery, with bold, visible brushstrokes that lend the fabric a sense of movement and spiritual intensity. The color scheme contrasts cool blues and grays with the warmth of gold, yellow, and red, creating a vibrant harmony that animates the solemn ritual.

The figures are arranged in a tight semicircle, their gestures and glances interlocking to focus all attention on the joining of hands at the center. The subject is the marriage of the Virgin, a theme identified in the title and source description. The Marriage of the Virgin is painted by El Greco between 1613 and 1614.