The warm hues and soft brushwork of this painting are characteristic of Lemoyne’s style, which was shaped by his study of the 17th-century Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens and of Venetian masters, such as 16th-century Paolo Veronese. The Bather was painted while Lemoyne was visiting Venice. When the painting was exhibited in Paris in 1725, it was such a success that he produced a full-size copy now in the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.