Professor Pietro Magni (1816-1877) studied at the Academy of Brera in Milan, subsequently perfecting his art in Rome. While in Rome he fought with Garibaldi in 1849, but returned to Milan where he developed a successful career as one of the foremost Lombard sculptors. He won the contest for the Monument to Leonardo da Vinci for the Piazza della Scala in Milan in 1859 and it was completed in 1872. Magni is most celebrated for the fine Leonardo monument and the marble figure of a girl reading, known as La Leggitrice of 1856. The latter was included in the 1862 International Exhibition in London to great acclaim, and revealed a mundane activity raised with delicate elegance to a new poetic height. This marble and two colossal plaster figures of David and Socrates are in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Milan. The present marble follows the Leggitrice closely, and relates also to a figure of a naked seated maiden by the sculptor sold in these Rooms (14 May 1987, lot 217). The relaxed naturalism of the Leggitrice and minute attention to detail are present, though the nakedness and reclining pose add new sensual implications, while the smiling expression and the inscription lend this image a Classical amatory air.