The frieze arrangement of the figures places this work in the painter`s classical phase, which began in 1594, the same year as the date on this painting. In Van Thiel`s view, it could be the picture which the Haarlem City Council acquired from the painter in 1594, and which was presented as a gift to Coenraet Dircksz. de Rechtere in around 1601-08, in gratitude for services rendered between 1574 and 1601 as Secretary of the Dutch States.

In the past there has been considerable disagreement about the iconography. An Academy catalogue of about 1804 contains the following description: Vulcan covers Mars with a net after surprising him with Venus and calls on the gods to witness this. On entering the Museo del Prado it is first identified as a representation of Apollo waiting for the judgement of Jupiter and the gods, who condemn him to tend the flocks of King Admetus, an interpretation recorded by Wedekind (1911) which remained on the Museum`s catalogues until today.

However, in 1986 Sluitjer correctly identifies the subject as an illustration of the Ovidean episode in the Metamorphoses (book II, 381–400) in which Apollo, at his son Phaeton`s insistence, agrees to lend him his sun chariot. As Phaeton speeds away in it, Jupiter sends a bolt of lightning to stop him, striking him down dead. Beset by grief, Apollo refuses to drive his chariot. The scene depicted here represents the moment in which Jupiter apologises to Apollo for causing his son`s death and implores him, along with the other gods, to return to his chariot so that the world is not left plunged in darkness.

Apollo is seated on a rock in the centre, covered with a mantle as a sign of mourning. In front of him stands Jupiter, sceptre in hand.

Different gods are represented on both sides, with Bacchus, Mercury, Saturn and Neptune on the right, and Mars and Vulcan on the left. Behind them are diverse mortals, both young and old, and in the background, the chariot destroyed by the bolt of lightning.

The painting was attributed to Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) while it was in the Alcázar from 1666 to 1701. In 1762 it is recorded in the Palace of the Buen Retiro, where it is attributed to Carlo Cesio (1622-1682), probably because of the initials in the signature, and listed as one of the nude paintings that Charles III of Spain ordered to be burned. Pérez Sánchez2 points out that in the royal inventories, Cornelisz. van Haarlem`s painting appears as pendant to a work attributed to Ribera, which he has no hesitation in associating with Hecate (London, Apsley House, Wellington Museum). It is true that in the Alcázar inventories of 1666, 1686 and 1701, after the entry for the Van Haarlem painting there is another for a Ribera which is described as follows: Another of the same size of some witches, but this reference to the size of the preceding entry is common in royal inventories and does not necessarily indicate any relationship between works. Moreover, the Van Haarlem painting must have been sent to the Buen Retiro prior to 1734, since it cannot be identified in the inventory of the paintings rescued from the Alcázar fire, whereas the Ribera picture is mentioned (Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado, 2009, p. 301).