The busts of the Seasons (Le Quattro Stagioni), personified by flower-wreathed Flora, corn-wreathed Ceres, vine-wreathed Bacchus and a well-wrapped male, were executed by the Rome-based sculptor Giovanni Maria Benzoni (d.1873). Photographs of his 'Seasons' inscribed as being executed for Princess Olga of Russia (d.1892), feature in the G.M. Benzoni photographic 'Album' sold Christie's South Kensington, 19 October 1995, (lot 59). It is intriguing to speculate that this might refer to Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (September 11, 1822 - October 30, 1892), daughter of Nicholas I of Russia and Queen Charlotte of Prussia. In 1846 she married Charles I of Würtemburg at the Peterhof Palace in Russia and became Queen Consort of Würtemburg. Benzoni was patronised by many Russian aristocrats and provided sculpture for St. Petersburg's Imperial Theatre. A favoured sculptor of Pope Pius IX, he was chosen to represent the Vatican at the Antwerp International Exhibition.