 Memling presents the Virgin as the Bride of Christ about to assume her role as Queen of Heaven . The attendant angels indicate her royal status . Such angels typically float above the Virgin , holding her crown , and some German painters showed them hovering close in Annunciation scenes , but angels rarely approach or touch the Virgin . Only a single previous version of such attendant angels has been found : in the Boucicaut Master 's early 15th @-@ century illuminated manuscript version of the " Visitation " , the pregnant Virgin 's long mantle is held by attendant angels , about which Blum says , " her queenly appearance surely commemorates the moment when Mary is first addressed as Theotokos , the Mother of the Lord . " Memling frequently featured a pair of angels dressed in vestments attending the Virgin in his work , but these two , dressed in simple amices and albs , were never repeated in his art . Their dual function is to " present the eucharistic offering and proclaim the Virgin bride and queen " . 
