This subject is frequent in Poussin's work. It presents a nude bacchant holding a jug while a goat-footed faun with an ivy-leaf belt and crown drinks from a vessel held by a cupid.

Unlike later works, this work give more emphasis to the subject matter than to the surrounding landscape, combining mythology with nudity. This would seem to indicate that the scene refers to a specific text which has yet to be identified.

The rapid and careless technique is combined with a very straightforward composition dominated by muted colors that are heightened with a few touches of red.

A replica of this canvas is at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, and it has important similarities to The Bacchant and the Satyr at the National Gallery in Dublin.

This work is listed in the 1746 inventory of King Felipe V's collection at the Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso. It entered the Prado Museum in 1829.