This exquisite terracotta 'pensiero' is one of a small surviving group of such sketch-models by Nollekens, several of which are in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Esdaile). The sculptor explored various themes by this means in imitation of the practice of Michelangelo and Giambologna, some of whose models he owned
"The greatest pleasure our Sculptor ever received", wrote Nollekens' biographer J.T. Smith (Nollekens and his Times, 1828, I, p. 347) "was when modelling small figures in clay, either singly or in groups, which he had baked; and in consequence of his refusing to sell them, and giving very few away, they became so extremely numerous that they not only afforded a great display of his industry, but considerable entertainment for his friends".