Giovanni Maria Benzoni (1809-1873) studied under Giuseppe Fabris and at the Academy of San Luca in Rome. Influenced by the Neo-Classicism of Tenerani, he worked prolifically in marble in a softened late classical style. Benzoni is most celebrated for his marble group of Cupid and Psyche of 1845. The present marble group belongs to a series of works of children with their dogs, and reveals his more realistic tendency. The plump young girl is gracefully captured, her legs folded in a comfortable position and her hair dressed in a fashionable style. Her spaniel is naturalistically carved, his lively head inclined towards her and his tongue licking her hand, his coat, long ears and tail minutely detailed. The two are composed in a cohesive and life-like group which may have been a portrait, but equally may be an idealised subject inspired by Antique prototypes, and imbued with a 19th century endearing sentimentality.