Commissioned in 1859 by contessa Marietta Mazuchelli Longo, Lombardi's Ruth was the first of the artist's Old Testament subjects; a series which also included his Rebecca, Deborah, Susanna and Sulamite. Lombardi's reputation had been built on his sensitive and innovative memorial sculpture, which he produced with his brother Giovita, in the studio in Rome which they set up in 1852. The contessa Longo was a long-time supporter of Lombardi and indeed had previously commissioned a funerary monument to her deceased husband from the artist.