After appreciation of Victorian painting was renewed towards the end of the 20th century, it was described in an auction catalogue in 1995 as "the undisputed masterpiece of [Alma-Tadema's] last decade, as well as a late (perhaps the final?)

The Finding of Moses had been a popular subject for paintings since the Renaissance, with a revival in the 19th century by Orientalist artists keen to add authentic archaeological decor to their depictions.

Aird invited Alma-Tadema to visit Egypt for the opening of the dam in December 1902, and commissioned him to paint a suitable subject to add to Aird's large collection of academic paintings by the likes of Frederic Leighton, Edward Poynter, and John William Waterhouse, including Alma-Tadema's 1888 work The Roses of Heliogabalus.

The work is a Biblical scene based on chapter 2, verse 6 of the Book of Exodus, in which Pharaoh's daughter comes to wash in the River Nile, and finds the infant Moses abandoned in a basket in the reeds.

The painting depicts the scene after the infant has been discovered, showing a procession travelling back to the daughter's abode in Memphis, the capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt.

The blues of the flowers are echoed by the lapis lazuli inlay of the chair, but contrast with yellows, oranges, reds and pinks.

The plinth bears more hieroglyphics, reading "Beloved of Ra, King of Upper and Lower Egypt," Alma-Tadema worked on the painting for two years.

The painting was sold to Sir Jeremiah Colman, 1st Baronet, and then after his death in January 1942 it was auctioned at Christie's in September 1942, acquired by a different dealer for 260 guineas.

The painting was included in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in March and April 1973, entitled "Victorians in Togas".