The work is part of the large group of paintings made by Mosè Bianchi, the most important Monzese painter of the nineteenth century, on the theme of women praying inside a church. The subject offers the painter an opportunity to grasp both aspects of genre - the altar boy who turns off the lamps, the attitudes and clothes of the noble ladies - and allusions to the themes of the Risorgimento, devoid of pietistic or dull tones thanks to the solidity of the system, the skilful modulation of the lights and touches of color that liven up the penumbra of the interior. The painting is set in a church that is reminiscent of the Duomo of Monza in certain details, although it is not a faithful reproduction of it but rather the free reworking of a place full of memories, evidently frequented by the author for a long time.