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This marble bust, made in 1890 and originally called the "Portrait of a Woman", is one of the best works by György Zala, the Hungarian electic sculptor. Zala profited greatly from his studies in Vienna and Munich where he returned to Hungary. He was the most popular Hungarian sculptore at the turn of the century and had the greatest output. As well as being the creator of many monuments, he was also a fashionable portraitist.
The life-like quality of his works and his technikal mastery won him a great many commissions, but as a result he had little time to carve likenesses of the people close to him. One of the few exceptions to this is the bust of his wife. Free from the objections of his commissioners, he gave a direct and gentle representation of the model. Special emphasis is given to the intimacy of the face in this brilliantly executed marble statue.
The bust was bought by the Fine Art Society in 1916.
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