Perugini was born in Naples and and moved to London in 1863. His picture of Silvia is an example of a genre in which he excelled: beautiful women, sometimes posed in social settings. Lord Leighton was his friend and mentor. His obituary was published in The Times on Monday, December 23, 1918, and praises him while at the same time noting that his work was largely academic (they could have said old-fashioned) and unaffected by modern movements in art.