This painting is the last in a set of twelve in the Royal Collection depicting part of the story of Cupid and Psyche. The subject of this series comes from The Metamorphoses or Golden Ass by the second-century AD writer Apuleius: it is one of the stories that intersperse the main narrative of Lucius on his travels (Book IV, para. 28 - Book VI, para. 24). The tale of the many travails endured by ill-matched lovers (one mortal and one divine) before their final happy marriage, it was interpreted in the Renaissance as a Neoplatonic allegory of the progress of the soul (Psyche means 'soul' in Greek) towards salvation through Divine Love. The outcome of their union is Pleasure.

At this stage in the story Apuleius describes how Psyche is rebuffed by Ceres and Juno and decides to appeal to Venus herself; but Venus punishes her, with the help of Care and Sorrow, and then sets her a series of increasingly difficult tasks.

The final scene in this series probably represents the naked Venus, her attendant behind her, setting Psyche her third task - to obtain water from a high rock guarded by dragons. In Apuleius, Psyche points up to 'the top of the steep mountain that looms over that lofty crag'; she is helped to achieve the task by Jupiter's eagle. Giordano gives no indication of the black spring or the vessel with which to collect the water. This makes the identification of this scene difficult. If this is indeed the scene depicted here, then this is the final one in Luca Giordano's series.

Catalogue entry adapted from The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection: Renaissance and Baroque, London, 2007