A woman sits at the center, draped in a voluminous red and white robe that catches the light in deep folds and shimmering highlights. Her gaze is calm and directed slightly to the left, her pale face framed by softly curling hair and a string of pearls around her neck. She holds a snake in her right hand, its body coiled delicately around her wrist, while her left rests on a stone ledge beside a white dove.

Three putti hover above, two of them reaching out with a laurel wreath, their small wings and limbs animated against a glowing sky of gold and blue. To the lower left, another pair of putti struggle on the ground, one blindfolded and clutching arrows, the other reaching for him, their bodies rendered with soft, rounded modeling. A dark, shadowy figure crouches behind the seated woman, barely emerging from the gloom, while a leafy branch rises at the lower right.

The background opens to a distant landscape, where a band of blue water and a tree silhouette stand out against the sunset tones. The brushwork is fluid and confident, especially in the drapery, where the red fabric glows with a sense of movement and weight. The composition balances the upright figure with the swirling activity of the putti, creating a sense of grandeur and allegory.

The upper right corner is filled with swirling clouds, tinged with warm gold and deep blue tones that blend softly into each other. A strip of bright sunlight falls across the woman's face and upper chest, casting the rest of her body and the putti below into deeper shadow. In the lower right corner, a leafy branch with several pointed leaves emerges from behind the stone ledge, painted in earthy greens and browns.

The crouching figure at the lower left is rendered in loose, dark brushstrokes, with indistinct features and a muscular back turned toward the viewer. The edges of the red robe are sharply defined against the background, with crisp lines contrasting the more diffuse treatment of the sky and landscape. Anthony van Dyck painted this work in the 1630s, during a period between 1633 and 1634.