Moses is placed in a basket by his mother, which she abandons on the Nile River. There, it is found by the Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2). Gentileschi studied first in Florence but later moved to Rome where he was a friend of Caravaggio and made works similar to the latter's style but interpreted in a personal way. He later worked in Genoa and Paris, then moved to London, where he spent the rest of his life. This sophisticated and elegant painting, with its sumptuous palette of colors, was painted during his stay at the court of Charles I of England as the artist's gift to Felipe IV of Spain.