This early edition was cast by JW Singer and Sons of Frome, Somerset.
The sculpture was inspired by the life model, Giuseppe Valona, whose stretching after a long sitting gave Leighton the idea to model the pose in clay. A life-sized bronze was completed in 1885, now in the Tate collection. This sculpture is one of the works which established Leighton's reputation as the father of the New Sculpture in England.
Provenance
By descent from 1920s to vendor; Bonham's, 2004.