The unusual subject of this painting is described in several mythological sources, with some variation in detail: Juno’s jealously drove the pregnant Latona from place to place until Neptune created for her the island of Delos where she could have her children in peace. Here Latona lies at the centre of the composition under an improvised tent on the wooded island of Delos; she is attended by five women, one washing the infant Diana in the foreground, another on the right hiding the infant Apollo. The threat of Juno’s appearance accounts for the furtive aspect of the scene. 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.