John Adams Acton (d.1910) studied under Timothy Butler before enrolling at the Royal Academy where he was awarded a gold medal and a travelling scholarship. The latter enabled him to study for ten years in Rome under the tutelage of John Gibson (d.1866). He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1851 and continued to do so until 1892. As well as specialising in busts and statues of his celebrated contemporaries in bronze and marble, he also sculpted charming genre works such as the present example. Il Giuocatore (The Player), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1865, is an affectionate study of carefree youth at play, the young child teasing the poodle with a biscuit. The sensitivity with which Adams has handled his subject is clearly visible in the expressions of both boy and dog as the boy lovingly tickles the paw of his pet, tempting him from above.

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