Morning - Rafaelle Monti (1818-1881)

This sculpture represents a winged woman holding a torch in her right hand, a child at her feet. The sculpture rests on a small mound.
The woman wearing a crown of flowers is encircled from the waist down to the feet of an imposing drapery swirling and flying towards the back of her body.

Rafaelle Monti (1818-1881), son of a sculptor, studied in Milan then at the age of 20 left for Vienna for two years. In 1846, he moved to England where he spent part of his life. He works with the manufacture of Copeland & Garrett which allows him to have an alternative to marble. It is with this material that he is recognized and in particular with his bust entitled "the veiled vestal" depicting a woman's face with an illusionist veil exhibited at the Royal Academy, commissioned by the Duke of Devonshire. He will reiterate with "the bride "in 1861 during an exhibition at the Cristal Palace.
This sculpture could be the counterpart of "the night" kept at the Dahesh Museum of art in New York and appearing in the 1862 catalog of the London International Exhibition under the title Night and Morning (the latter not currently known)