Joachim’s household was not very wealthy, but neither was it poor [...] No less admirable was the humility and obedience of the most holy little girl in allowing herself to be taught to read and to learn other things, as is natural at such a tender age. Her holy parents did so, teaching her to read and other matters, and she accepted and learned everything, though she was already filled with infused knowledge of all created things. She remained silent and listened to everyone, to the amazement of the angels, who beheld in a little girl such extraordinary prudence. (Mystical City of God, Book I, 401-405)

The Bible doesn’t mention anything about the childhood of Mary, mother of Jesus; what is known comes from Apocryphal Gospels. Through those texts, we learn that she was chosen from the moment of her conception to be the mother of the Messiah and that her parents were Joachim and Anne.

The image of Mary reading or learning to read with her mother, as the one represented here, is a recurring scene in the Virgin Mary iconography. It is also reinforced in the writings of mystics, such as those of Sister Mary of Jesus of Agreda, a 17th-century Spanish nun who wrote a detailed biography of Mary that not only tells us about the daily life of Joachim and Anne, but also turns the scene into a moralizing tale, by showing us how Mary allows herself to be taught by her parents, even though, according to the nun and the theology of her time, she didn’t need it, since she was born with infused knowledge, but she does it to demonstrate humility.