The sculpture is the work of Louis-Ernest Barrias, a sculptor of the Parisian epic of the turn of the century. Son of art, the artist learned the rudiments of modeling from his father, a porcelain painter; the transition to the world of sculpture occurred through the knowledge of Pierre-Jules Cavelier (1814-1894), teacher and supporter of the most classicist academicism. In 1858 he was admitted to the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in the capital, where he was able to appreciate the lesson of additional teachers, such as Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875). He won the coveted Prix de Rome in 1865, and his subsequent artistic maturity resulted in the commission of decorations at the Parisian Opéra and the Hôtel de la Païva on the Champs-Élysées.