Antonio Tantardini attended the Brera Academy as a pupil of Pompeo Marchesi and was later appointed as a teacher. His work oscillates between realism and romanticism and ranges from portraits, religious works and genre representations. in Milan he created the monument to Cavour in 1865, worked in the Fabrica del Duomo and exhibited works at the Gallery of Modern Art. In Turin since 1870 he is among the exhibitors at the famous Promoter of Fine Arts. A version of the "Bagnante" is currently exhibited at the Museum of Buenos Aires and a smaller one in the Pinacoteca di Brescia. Tantardini's fame also reaches abroad where he participated in important exhibitions including those in Dublin, Paris and London where the sculpture we present was photographed in 1862 at the exhibition held at the Brompton Boilers in South Kensington.
