The story of the hunter Actaeon’s accidental discovery of Diana and her nymphs bathing is told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Furious at his intrusion into their grotto, Diana turns Actaeon into a stag, and he is chased and killed by his own hounds. Here Diana and her nymphs can be seen bathing and making music at the left; Actaeon is at the centre of the composition, with the body of a man but the head of a stag.

Originally acquired by Charles I as by Giorgione, the painting is now attributed to Lambert Sustris and his workshop. A closely related painting at Christ Church, Oxford, is also given to Lambert Sustris.