Giulio Campi (1502-72) was an Italian painter, the eldest son of the painter Galeazzo Campi, and brother of Vincenzo and Antonio. Little is known of his early training but sources suggest he studied under Giulio Romano in Mantua, visited Rome where he studied Raphael's works and the Antique, and was also influenced by Titian and Pordenone. His earliest signed and dated work is an altarpiece painted for the church of SS Nazaro and Celso, in Cremona. From 1528 to 1530, Giulio painted frescoes for the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Socino. He also painted frescoes for the church of S Agata in Cremona dated 1537, and worked for the church of S Sigismondo in the same city. In 1541, he was involved in the planning of the sumptuous decorations for the entry of the Emperor Charles V in Cremona. In 1547, he reconstructed and decorated the church of SS Pelagia and Margherita. He was active in Milan in 1564 and 1565 and subsequently was occupied with work in the duomo of Cremona. He made his will on 28 February 1572 and died soon after. His brother Antonio recorded in his book Cremona fedelissima 'in the month of March my brother Giulio Campo the painter, passed to a better life'.

This miniature is one of the collection of copies of 224 self-portraits by artists in the Uffizi Palace, Florence, that Lord Cowper, the art collector and patron, commissioned from Giuseppe Macpherson (1726-80). He presented the miniatures to King George III in two batches, in 1773 and 1786. Macpherson followed the original self-portraits quite closely, but copied only the head and shoulders. He inscribed the artists' names on the backs of the miniatures – several differ from those in the modern Uffizi catalogue, notably: Bazzi, Bellini, Campi, Annibale Carracci, Gabbiani, Masaccio, Metsys, Moroni, Pencz, Licinio, Schiavone and Spada. None of the miniatures is signed, apart from Macpherson's own self-portrait, which is inscribed: Giuseppe Macpherson / Autore della serie (Giuseppe Macpherson / Author of the series). Macpherson was born in Florence, the son of Donald Macpherson, a footman in the service of Alexander, 2nd duke of Gordon. He was a pupil of Pompeo Batoni and painted miniatures and enamel portraits in Italy, France and Germany, finally settling in Florence. A James Macpherson is recorded in London and Paris in 1754 but it is not certain that this is the same person. He was described in 1776 as having a special talent for painting on enamel and as being 'almost the only painter in Europe who possesses this art to perfection'. He had a distinguished client list which included some of the crowned heads and dignitaries of Europe. In 1778, he was invited to add his own self-portrait to the famous painters in the grand duke's collection as it 'would do honour to Florence to enrich the collection with a work which shows that we still have some men of true merit', according to Giuseppe Pelli, director of the Uffizi.