The scene is based on Ovid, Metamorphoses (Book IV, 285-388) which tells the love of Salmacis, a nymph of Diana's, for the young Hermaphroditus (offspring of Hermes and Aphrodite) as she watched him bathe in her stream. A later moment in the story, when she herself plunges into the water and embraces him, is the other aspect sometimes illustrated.

Both scenes are recorded as having been painted by Ludovico Carracci, and the theme was treated several times by Albani, sometimes basing his composition on Ludovico (e.g. Louvre, Paris). The Royal Collection painting seems very loosely related in composition to a drawing by Ludovico in the Horne Foundation, Florence, though the figures are quite differently posed. The painting is not by Albani but appears to be indebted most to him.