Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was one of the most celebrated and talented artists in seventeenth-century Rome. He was a sculptor, architect, designer and painter. Born in Naples, Bernini trained with his father, Pietro, who was a sculptor, and went with him to Rome where he gained introductions to the Borghese and Barberini families, his powerful patrons. For Cardinal Scipione Borghese, he created a series of life-size marble statues which demonstrated his prodigious talent and virtuosity, each statue capturing a unique, fleeting moment of action and the cold stone being made to seem like living flesh, according to contemporaries. When Maffeo Barberini was elected as Pope Urban VIII in 1623, he told Bernini: 'It is your great fortune to see Cardinal Maffeo Barberini Pope, but our fortune is far greater in that Cavalier Bernini lives during our pontificate'. In 1629, he was appointed architect to St Peter's and designed amongst other things, the statue of S Longinus and the great bronze baldacchino (canopy) over the tomb of St Peter. After Urban's death, during the pontificate of Innocent X Pamphili, Bernini worked mostly for private clients. The commission for the Cornaro family chapel, with the sculpture of S Teresa in Ecstasy, enabled Bernini to fuse sculpture, architecture and painting into a dramatic and decorative whole. He also created the Four Rivers fountain in Piazza Navona. When Alexander VII became pope in 1655, Bernini returned to favour and was almost immediately given two highly prestigious commissions – to decorate the Cathedra Petri (Throne of St Peter) and to build the colonnade round the piazza in front of the church. Bernini described the latter as arms reaching out to 'embrace Catholics to reinforce their belief'. In addition, his portrait sculpture was renowned for its characterisation and drama. He carved a marble bust of King Charles I (later destroyed in a fire) from a triple portrait of the king by Sir Anthony van Dyck, which is still in the Royal Collection (RCIN 404420). Bernini also wrote, directed and produced spectacular stage shows – one of them, the ambassador of the duke of Milan noted, consisted of 'three scenes to astonish the whole universe'.

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.