A NEAR LIFE-SIZE ITALIAN WHITE MARBLE FIGURE OF A SEA NYMPH

Widely known for his figure of Georges Bizet's Carmen, Professore Fortunato Galli (d. 1918) spent most of his working life in Florence, where much of his output was religious sculpture for many of the major Tuscan churches, including his principal work, the statue of Pope Gregory VII for the Duomo. His commercial works, retailed from Pietrò Barzanti's galleria, concentrated on subjects and themes of the day, such as Mignon, the heroine of Ambroise Thomas's 1866 opera.