Apollo, the sun god, stands in profile in a river landscape. He wears a laurel crown with a halo and a red cloak and holds a bow in his right hand. His left hand is raised in a gesture of surprise; he is probably witnessing the metamorphosis of the nymph Daphne, who was transformed into a laurel tree to escape Apollo's pursuit. Daphne appears in another painting by Pellegrini in the same series (RCIN 405498); it is not impossible that the two works originally formed one canvas.

The painting is one of a series of twelve mythological scenes of gods and mortals by Pellegrini, all of autograph quality. The history of their commission is not known and the series may be incomplete, but the poses of the figures suggest that the canvases were part of a decorative scheme. There is no evidence that this was a royal commission; the paintings may have entered the collection because of the destruction of a house for which they were originally intended. One of the series, Endymion (RCIN 405481), appears on the wall in Philippe Mercier's The Music Party of 1733 (RCIN 402414), which shows Frederick, Prince of Wales, performing with his sisters (in a room that has never been securely identified). This makes Frederick the most likely purchaser of the set, though the only evidence directly linking them to him.