Erastus Dow Palmer (1817-1904) was one of America's foremost mid 19th century sculptors. Palmer worked on a full-length statue of Memory in circa 1861, a plaster version is in the Albany Institute in New York. The same Institute has a plaster of the reduced bust of the subject dated 1861, both are inscribed Memory. The present marble version is dated six years later, and has a further inscription on the reverse most probably relating to the original owners. The truncation of the figure at waist level, lends a greater abstraction to the image, while the pure lines of the tunic and the turn of the head, and the gentle pensive features imbue the bust with a romantic melancholy.