CAST BY DELAFONTAINE FROM A MODEL BY FRANCISQUE JOSEPH DURET, MID-19TH CENTURY

Together with its companion figure, Neapolitan dancer with tambourine, the present model was first exhibited by Duret (d. 1865) at the Salon of 1838. The pair later won a first class medal at the 1855 Paris Exposition universelle. Fusco and Janson state that Delafontaine began casting both models in bronze from 1838 (see The Romantics to Rodin, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1980, cat. p. 248), while Kjellberg maintains that casting rights were not obtained by the foundry until 1855.