Modern day commentators can only speculate as to why the bust holds this incredible allure, and one theory is that the answer lies in the declining psychological state of the artist when he created it. 1886 was the year in which Gemito created several poignant works depicting his wife: among them, a signed and dated terracotta bust today in the Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Rome and two marbles, of which is the present bust is one, and the other is in the collection of the Museo Nazionale e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples. However, 1886 was also the year in which Gemito halted work in his thriving bronze foundry, and in which he faced countless, mounting challenges for two royal commissions from King Umberto I, one of which resulted in his definitive mental breakdown 1887. Thus, faced with a troubled mind and the burden of expectation, what better hiding place than the intimate time shared between the artist and the model and the husband and the wife?

The sheer beauty of this portrait is equally matched by its incredible rarity: Gemito, who was both a renowned draughtsman and sculptor, rarely carved in marble, preferring the malleability of wax and terracotta. Thus, this exceptional works sits within a corpus of only five known marbles carved by the artist.