This near-life size full length marble statue of Glycera, the creator of garlands according to the ancient Greek, was acquired by Prince Albert in 1848. It was made by the British sculptor Richard James Wyatt, who depicted Glycera in a contraposto pose, with her hair arranged in a bun and partially dressed with draperies gathered around her hips, holding a rose in her left hand and looking down at a flower garland held in her upraised left hand. Idealised depictions of classical subjects, such as this Glycera, became highly fashionable in the nineteenth century. Richard James Wyatt had moved to Rome in 1821 where he trained and worked in the studios of the neo-classical artists Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen.With the sculptor John Gibson, he became one of the leading figures in the group of British neo-classical sculptors working in Rome. Prince Albert acquired with this Glycera a second marble by Wyatt, a full-length marble of ‘Penelope’ which was considered one of Wyatt’s best works and for which Prince Albert paid £250. The statues were purchased for Osborne House, in the Isle of Wight, the summer residence where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert put together an important collection of neo-classical sculpture, made primarily by British contemporary artists.