The present model has been given various attributions, including Desjardins. However, recent research has revealed that it may be attributed to François Lespingola (1644-1705), a French sculptor who gained a Royal Scholarship to study at the newly founded French Royal Academy in Rome in 1666. Unlike most of his contemporary pensionnaires who had to make copies of the antiquities, Lespignola was also allowed to create his own models (op. cit. Gillet). He returned to Paris in 1676 and was admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and employed in the service of Louis XIV. However, by 1691 Lespingola hardly attended the Academy meetings, and in 1694 was expelled. This became his most productive period: between 1690-1704 he provided and made the models for most of the large and important royal commissions.