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This authentic work of Girolamo Pesce shows the founder of the Cistercian order, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, kneeling before an apparition of the Holy Virgin. The white-clothed saint, with a cross and a lance in his hand which refer to the Passion of Christ, looks upwards to Mary, who accompanied by angels, is floating in the clouds. This central motif is surrounded by small pictures which, encompassed by starlight, with the accompanying scrolls refer to the scenes of Mary's life. This iconographic structure is rather unusual, even though some elements of the composition can be found in other contemporary representation of the theme. The painting in Vác Cathedral may be based on an engraved model. Its commission was probably connected with some church, monastery or member of the Cistercian order. The ideology and spiritualism of the whole composition is well summed up in the Evangelical comment: "Mary is the star who erose from Jacob; her rays light up all the round world. As a glorious and bright star, she shines with her merit, radiating with her beautiful life, high over the wide, great se of this world." (St. Bernard: Super Missus est PL, 183, 429-438.)
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