Latona Threatened by the Lycian Peasants in a River Landscape

The woman carrying her two children (centre right) was identified in 1814 by a previous owner of the drawing, William Young Ottley (1771 - 1836), as the Greek goddess Leto (Roman goddess Latona) with her twins Apollo and Diana (by the god Zeus/Jupiter), overseeing a harvest of reeds. While out travelling Latona was prevented by the Lycian peasants from drinking the water of a reedy lake by their stirring up its mud, for which she punished them by turning them into frogs. There are, however, no frogs visible in the drawing. Ottley also attributed the drawing to the Bolognese artist Lodovico Carracci (1555 - 1617).