The subject is taken from Ariosto's epic poem, 'Orlando Furioso' (Canto 10). Ruggiero, riding on a hippogriff (a mythological animal which was half horse and half griffin), rescues Angelica from a sea monster.

This painting is a later and smaller version of a large picture on this subject which Ingres painted for Louis XVIII in 1819 which is now in the Louvre, Paris.