The present figure entitled Ambition of Youth was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1908 (no. 1800) and was originally designed as the centrepiece of a fountain in the grounds of Pittencrief House, Pittencrief Park. The style and subject matter adopted is typical of Goulden's oeuvre. An idealistic and painstaking artist, Goulden (d.1932) often used the figures of children in order to represent a hope in the continuity of life and a faith in the next generation. This is particularly evident in the many memorials which he carried out in the immediate post-World War I years.