The authorship of this remarkable portrait of General George Washington, finely carved in alabaster, is confirmed by Giuseppe Spedolo's signature on the reverse of the bust. The work reveals the sculptor's considerable gifts as a portraitist, a field in which he must have enjoyed a certain reputation. Beyond the refinement of its execution, the bust is particularly important because it provides a firm point of reference in reconstructing the career of an artist whose biography remains surprisingly elusive: neither his dates nor his places of birth and death are currently known.

A document preserved among the Puccini family papers in Pistoia records the commission to Spedolo of an alabaster bust representing Washington, described as the "great governor of America".

The archival evidence allows the work to be dated precisely between July 1816 and June 1817 and identifies the patron as the Pistoian nobleman Giuseppe Puccini (1745-1818), father of Niccolò and brother of Tommaso Puccini, Prefect of the Florentine Galleries and Museums.

Even more significant is the way the sculptor is described in the same record: "Spedolo veneziano" - "the Venetian Spedolo".

This reference, together with the inscription GIVSEPPE SPEDOLO F. carved on the work, offers new evidence for clarifying his origins or artistic formation and provides a more secure basis for future research into his activity.

The Washington bust therefore represents far more than a rare surviving work by Spedolo. Through its signature, documentary dating and identified patronage, it establishes new and concrete coordinates for the reconstruction of his career, professional milieu and circle of patrons.

At the same time, the deliberate choice to celebrate Washington specifically as General raises compelling questions about the meaning of the commission and the European reception of the hero of American independence - themes that will be explored further in our Viewing Room.