In the centre the infant Jupiter is fed by the goat Amalthea; one of the nymphs lifts the leg of the goat, the other, to the right, reaches backwards to collect honey from a bee-hive. On the left are two shepherds, one of whom holds the goat's head. The group is set in a landscape against a group of trees, with water in the foreground. The painting relates to a panel depicting ‘The Birth of Jupiter’ in the National Gallery, London, which may be the first in the series. This is one of four paintings in the Royal Collection thought to have belonged to a series of between sixteen and eighteen panels of similar dimensions by Giulio Romano. The original location and precise theme of the series is uncertain; Giulio was court artist to Federico Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and it is possible that they were painted to decorate a room in the Palazzo Ducale, perhaps the Sala di Giove. They may equally have decorated another Gonzaga palace, or even Giulio’s own palace. The panels depict mythological subjects drawn from a diverse range of classical texts; although the decorative programme is likely to reflect a single source this has yet to be identified, making it difficult to establish the precise meaning, sequence and extent of the series.