The shepherd lies half-naked in the foreground. At the left are two women; an older woman points to the shepherd's groin, while the younger one, with a finger to her lips, has taken the shepherd's flute in her right hand. At the far left of the composition a boy is shown in profile, drinking. The picture is intended to have erotic connotations; Gennari's own description of it references the older woman pointing to an 'altro luogo'. It was presumably commissioned for King Charles II's 'apartamento segreto' at Whitehall; a payment made on 27 June 1681 probably relates to the work, and it was described as being in the apartamento segreto by Gennari in his MS (MS. B344, Archiginnasio, Bologna). Gennari also records copying it for 'Milady Devonshire', probably Lady Elizabeth Cecil, wife of the 3rd Earl of Devonshire; the copy does not survive.