There are no records to explain how this unusual sculpture came to be in one of the courtyards of the Procuratie Nuove, opposite the stairs up the State Apartments of the Palazzo Reale.

Monica Vincenti who undertook the historical research that formed part of the conservation project, has concluded that on stylistic grounds the Winged Figure and Elephant are probably by Giambattista Albanese (1573-1630) a sculptor from Vicenza. The combination of winged female figure and elephant may be a new iconographic invention created for the garden of a literary patron.

Giambattista and his brother belonged to the entourage of the noble Gualdo family and worked with Vincenzo Scamozzi sculpting garden statuary for the Veneto villas including the Villa Rotonda. The learning and literary interests of their patrons appears to have extended the repertoire of figures chosen to ornament their gardens. Giambattista was responsible for the six mythological deities now in the garden of the Villa Fietta at Altivole, although their original provenance is unknown.

Among his Venetian commissions are the four warrior saints on the facade of the basilica of San Marco and the five statues crowning the facade of San Giorgio Maggiore.

The Winged Figure would appear to date from about 1610-1620, on the basis of its affinities with the San Marco figures.

The San Giorgio angels, one of which is illustrated here, are even closer, sharing the same vigorous movement, the contrapposto of legs and arms, facial details, drapery, volume and the detailing of the wings and sleeve revers. Finally, De Vincenti suggests that the face of the Venus with Cupid at Villa Fietta, Altivole, is almost identical to that of the Winged Figure.