Henri Rouart

Henri Rouart (1833–1912)—an industrialist, art collector, painter, and patron of Impressionist artists—met Rosso in 1890, as attested by several sources. We do know with certainty that Rouart bought copies of "Frileuse," "Niccolò da Uzzano," "Gavroche," and "Bambino ebreo"from Rosso, and housed the sculptor's studio in his factory on Boulevard Voltaire, where his portrait was created.
The original plaster was modeled in 1890 and is now found in the Medardo Rosso Museum in Barzio, while another plaster is preserved in Antwerp. The bronzework was cast that same year in Paris, but Rouart never collected it from Rosso's studio, so it passed to his son, Louis, on his death. It was then perhaps that Rosso made the black-wax version found in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, which was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1914. Having been part of a number of exhibitions in Milan, and part of the Medardo Rosso Museum in Barzio, this piece passed first to the hands of Gianni Mattioli and then Virginio Ghiringhelli, before finally being acquired by the museum in 1953, in compliance with Francesco Rosso's last will.