This sculpture was commissioned from Lorenzo Bartolini by Rosa Trivulzio Poldi Pezzoli, the mother of Gian Giacomo.
When she was widowed in 1833, Rosa asked Bartolini a domestic and consoling statue which would express her abandonment to faith following her loss. Bartolini embodied these sentiments in a young female nude, seated with hands clasped and an expression of devotion.
For the exquisite working of the marble and the ethical and religious value of the subject the work had a great success and it was highly praised by the critics. Before it was consigned to the client, the statue was exhibited in Florence, Parma and, in 1837, at the Brera Academy in Milan.