Search results

Start typing

Giuseppe Macpherson (1726-c. 1780)

Bernardo Buontalenti (1531-1608) c.1772-80

Watercolour on ivory | 6.9 x 5.6 cm (sight) (sight) | RCIN 421193

Your share link is...

  Close

  • Bernardo Buontalenti delle Girandole (1531-1608) was an Italian architect from Florence who also painted and sculpted, designed masques (court entertainments), fireworks (Girandole means a Catherine-wheel) and other amusements for the Medici family. He is seen here holding one of the tools of his trade, a compass. He relished trompe l'oeil (optical illusion) and often incorporated it into his work, as in the new altar steps for S Trinità where the real steps were placed, invisible, at the side of the unusable trompe l'oeil carved ones. He designed dramatic grottoes for the Boboli Gardens with pumice-stone encrustations and hidden sources of light, fortifications, engineering works and a canal. He also experimented to try to discover the secret of Chinese porcelain. A contemporary credits him with inventing a famous and terrible cannon known as 'Scacciadiavoli' (Devil-destroyer).

    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 (1726-1780). 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.
    Provenance

    Presented to George III by Lord Cowper

  • Medium and techniques

    Watercolour on ivory

    Measurements

    6.9 x 5.6 cm (sight) (sight)


The income from your ticket contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Royal Collection Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities.