The sitter, who belonged to a Liverpool family and may have been introduced to Gibson by Liverpool friends, was sixteen years old when the bust was executed in Rome. She was the daughter of a rich and cultivated Liverpool banke and much loved in social and artistic circles in Florence. She was married to the younger son of Count Gigliucci of Fermo in the Marche, whose wife was the famous Soprano Clara Novello, daughter of Vincent Novello, founder of the London firm of music publishers. The bust remained in the house built by the sitter's husband in the Plaza Savonarola in Florence until given to the Museum by her daughter.

Gibson (1790-1866) was apprenticed to Messrs Franceys, the Liverpool firm of statuaries and later went to Rome where he received tuition from Canova and Thorwaldsen. Elected A.R.A in 1833 and RA in 1838. He became the leading English sculptor of his generation working in the Neoclassical style and was famous for such works as the Tinted Venus, Pandora, Mars and Cupid and Psyche and Zephers. He also executed public statues and busts. He bequeathed his property on his death to the Royal Academy.