An Italian photographer active in Paris from the mid-1860s through the mid-1870s, Guglielmo Marconi specialized in academic nude studies for painters and sculptors. Using child, female, and male models, he photographed an entire repertory of poses traditionally employed by academic studios. Illustrating the developing close association between photographers and painters, Marconi's image is related to another nude study in the collection, Julien Vallou de Villeneuve's Study after Nature (Etude d'après nature).