A painter and writer, from 1882 Ary Renan showed works at the Salon with poetic and mythological subjects. He was a leading member of the Symbolist movement and wrote poetry, a book of which - Rêves d'artiste - was published after his death.

The present work illustrates the story of Apollo and Daphne, taken from Ovid's Metamorphosis. The legend tells how Eros, god of love, wounds Apollo, god of the sun, with a golden arrow, designed to excite love. He also wounds Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus, but strikes her with a lead arrow which serves to repel love. Apollo falls in love with the nymph as soon as he sees her, but she spurns his advances. He pursues Daphne, who grows frightened and flees. Unable to outrun him for much longer, she cries out to her father for help. As Apollo captures her, Peneus transforms his daughter into a laurel tree. Her skin turns to bark, her arms become branches and her feet roots. Apollo's love is unwavering, however, and he continues to embrace the transformed Daphne before proclaiming the laurel to be a sacred tree.