This bust corresponds exactly, even down to the design of the socle, with Flaxman's bust of the Corsican statesman, Pasquale de Paoli, on the latter's monument in the south aisle of Westminster Abbey.
Paoli (1725-1807) was already his country's head at the age of 30, and was particularly lionised in this country for his resistance to Genoese and French attempts to overthrow his rule, and for his implacable opposition to Napoleon. After his eventual downfall, he was given asylum by George III, and enjoyed what his epitaph describes as an 'affluent and dignified retirement'. He is further eulogised there as 'One of the most eminent and illustrious characters of the age in which he lived' and it is observed that 'amongst the few who have merited so glorious a title, (he) most justly deserved to be hailed the father of his country'.