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This work´s subject is quite uncommon in Spanish painting, although frequent in Italian seicento works. It is drawn from Ovid´s Metamorphoses (VI, 337-382), which narrates how, fleeing Juno, Leto arrives at Lycia with her two children by Jupiter, Apollo and Diana. Despite her thirst, the local peasants hinder her efforts to drink in a small pond, and in her rage, she converts them into
Held by two young maids, Leto gives birth to Diana and Apollo before a temple portico. She is surrounded by women and children who help her bear the pain. A second group of children in the foreground contribute to sense of depth, reflecting a mannerist practice common in works by Giulio Romano and Primaticcio.In the Pastrana family inventory, this was considered a drawing of the death of Pandora,
