The sculptor Nicolas-Sébastien Adam illustrates here the mythological episode of the torture of Prometheus, the Titan who dared to steal the sacred fire from Olympus and offer it to mankind. Zeus, furious, decided to inflict a terrible punishment on him: chained to the summit of Mount Caucasus, an eagle came every day to devour his liver, which was constantly regenerating.

In the 18th century, young artists’ ambition was to enter the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture to complete their training. To do this, they had to submit a work that, if approved, would allow the artist to enter the Academy and exhibit at the Salon. Dating from 1735, this highly virtuoso sketch is the "morceau d'agrément" of Nicolas-Sébastien Adam, an artist from a family of sculptors in Lorraine. He won acclaim in Rome and Paris, but it was not until 1762 that Adam executed his marble reception piece, now in the collections of the musée du Louvre.

The work is fully in keeping with the academic repertoire: its composition develops in a compact, dense swirl of pain where the hero's suffering can be seen not only in his torn body with its tense muscles and swollen veins, but also in his face with its many expressions. Adam attaches great importance to the rendering of the anatomy, conveying the hero's torment in the best possible way. This same approach can be seen in the Laocoon group, dating from the 1st or 2nd century BC and housed in the Pio-Clementino Museum in the Vatican, where, in a final battle with death, the emotions of human suffering are clearly perceptible. In contrast to the sense of restraint that emanates from this group, Adam's work reflects a certain exuberance, typical of the Baroque style.

In the 18th century, this theme, like historical and religious subjects, was intended to instruct and educate the viewer.