The painting depicts a naked Bathsheba bathing. A servant assists her. The subject of the painting is a biblical story described in Chapter 11 of the Second Book of Kings. Bathsheba was a woman of extraordinary beauty, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, a commander of King David. One evening, King David was walking and saw a beautiful woman bathing (2 Samuel 11:2). David desired her and took her to his palace. Later, the king arranged for Bathsheba's husband to be killed. To accomplish this, he wrote a letter to the army commander Joab, instructing: "Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest, then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die" (2 Samuel 11:15).