Pierre-Jules Cavelier (1814-1894) studied under David d'Angers, subsequently spent five years in Rome and began exhibiting in the Paris Salon in 1834. He was awarded numerous prizes for his historical and mythological sculptures, and was appointed Professor of the École des beaux-arts in 1864.
Cavelier exhibited a plaster figure entitled Femme grecque endormie at the 1842 Salon, and in 1849 the marble version, then entitled Pénélope. The Pénélope won the Prix d'honneur and was acquired by the Duc de Luynes. This was an extremely popular and graceful model, which was exhibited in silver at the Exposition Universelle of 1900. It was cast in its original size and in five reductions by Barbedienne, the present example being a particularly fine cast, enriched both with silvering and gilding.