Ercole Rosa (1846-1893) achieved remarkable fame during his brief life. Realising his talent at a young age, the artist's parents entered him into the Ospizio di san Michele, an institution devoted to the promotion of art.

Taking up sculpture at 21, he adopted what may be described as a rebellious and spontaneous nature to his work, seen in the twisted net in which the putto appears to have suddenly found himself.

Beginning in 1870, the artist exhibited at the Promotrice di Belle Arti in Turin, and his submission to the 1877 Rome exhibit, Suonatore Napoletano, won the silver medal.

Today Rosa's perhaps two best-known works are his Monument to the Brothers Cairoli in Rome and the equ...