The prolific Bavarian painter Michael Wittmer was a pupil of Peter Langer and Peter von Cornelius, members of the Nazarene group of German painters whose work was known and admired by Prince Albert. Wittmer worked on the decoration of the Munich Glyptothek before travelling to Rome on a bursary from King Ludwig I of Bavaria. It is not known how he came to the attention of the Queen and Prince Albert but it may have been through Ludwig Grüner, who was in touch with Wittmer in Rome in the late 1830s. In 1847 the Queen bought this painting and presented it to Prince Albert on her birthday, 24 May, and in 1855 the Prince himself acquired Aesop (RCIN 406331). These works, together with Wittmer's painting, Raphael's First Sketch of the Madonna della Sedia (RCIN 403635), were hanging at Osborne in 1876.

In 1762 the Scottish poet James McPherson published a cycle of epic poems purporting to be the works of Ossian, a blind Celtic bard. Macpherson claimed to have gathered and translated oral material in the Scots Gaelic dialect, supposedly from ancient sources. He had tapped into the public's love of Scottish culture, and these tales became a huge success, and an influence on the Romantic movement. They were subsequently translated into several languages, and Napoleon himself was said to carry a copy of the tale of primitive warriors with him. The authenticity of the texts was soon under the scrutiny of critics such as Samuel Johnson, and it is nowadays agreed that Macpherson himself was the ingenious author.

In this treatment of the subject Ossian, seated on a knoll with his harp, raises his left hand to invoke the spirits of dead heroes, seen over the fortress Selma on the left. He recites their deeds to the warriors gathered just below him, one of whom holds up captured Roman booty. Malvina stands, leaning on her spear on the right.