Bartolini was commissioned by Prince Camillo Borghese to execute an over lifesize marble of Juno, around 1833, for the Prince's Roman palazzo. A letter from the sculptor to Prince Borghese is recorded, in which Bartolini asks for financial assistance for the purchase of a new block of marble, and stating that he had already completed a marble sketch of the Juno, but that both the previous two blocks of he had used were flawed. The new marble was never purchased, and the sculpture was left unfinished in Bartolini's studio.
Drawings and two plaster versions of Juno survive, one of the plasters is of a reduced size and may related to the present marble. The present fine marble reduction was probably executed by Bartolini's studio assistants during his lifetime and approved by himself. The signature this marble bears corresponds favourably to the lower-case signature Bartolini used to sign his drawings. Consequently, it is likely that Bartolini signed this marble and that the use of the imperfect faceva signifies that it was made while the orignal Juno lay awaiting completion.
The subject matter was described in detail by Bartolini in a recorded note in French. Bartolini explains that he has captured the goddess just after Paris's judgement to her rival, Venus. Irritated by his choice, she proudy displays her nakedness to him in an attempt to prove her own superior beauty (Tinti, op. cit., p. 56).