This painting of a royal marriage shows the bride and groom kneeling on each side of a Catholic priest who is performing the ceremony on a set of stairs. Other church officials crowd behind the officiant and peer over his shoulder. The young bride and the old priest are emphasized because they both wear white and they are bathed in a strong diagonal band of light coming from the upper left. The bishop holds a long crozier and wears a white mitre and a richly embroidered chasuble, indicating his high status in the church. The bride kneels to the right of the priest on a lower step. She lowers her eyes demurely. A group of richly dressed spectators of all ages crowd around her on the far right of the scene. Two little girls hold her long white embroidered cape. The groom, who is kneeling to the left of the bride and priest, has his back turned to the viewer and his head in shadow. He wears a voluminous brilliant red cloak that drapes over his back and puddles on the stairs below him. Behind him is a young attendant wearing a gold and sky-blue garment. The wedding takes place in a classical columned interior with a central arched niche surrounded by Corinthian pilasters and a draped marble figure. The interior has very high ceilings. Two large unfurled flags of turquoise and orange in the middleground add color and draw the eye past the wedding. A balcony in the background contains a crowd of spectators and musicians peering over the balustrade to view the marriage ceremony.  There is a small black and white animal and a length of crumpled red fabric on the lowest step of the staircase in the right foreground. The drama of the wedding scene is enhanced by the juxtaposition of strong light on the ceremony and deep shadow on both the left and right sides of the painting. Barely discernible in the shadows are a dark stone parapet and deeply shadowed red wall on the left and a rough shadowy curtain-like element on the upper right.