Signature at the back.

Commissioned to Vincenzo Gemito by the former ruler of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Francesco II, in exile in France, and modeled for the first time in 1881, the figure of the water vendor was immediately one of the most recognizable and appreciated images of the Neapolitan artist, characterized by that strong realism, especially in the features of the face, which is the central element of Gemito's art and which derives from the re-proposition in sculpture of physiognomies and human figures drawn from everyday reality.
A comparable work, also in red wax, is kept in the XXII room of the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Milan, together with a "Capri woman's head (Rosa)" and a "Priest's head", datable to the years 1881-1882. .