Giovan Battista Amendola (d.1887) studied in Naples under Angelini and Solari. He subsequently moved to Rome and Paris and in 1879 to England, where he remained until 1884. Through his close relationship with Alma Tadema, Amendola met Frederick Leighton and swiftly became one of his protégés. The present model, possibly created on the instigation of Leighton, is taken from the latter's painting Wedded, executed circa 1881-2, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882 and acquired in the same year by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.