Giuseppe Chiari (1654-1727) was an Italian painter who trained with Carlo Maratti in Rome from 1666. He painted both religious subjects, such as the Birth of the Virgin and Adoration of the Magi in S Maria del Suffragio in Rome, and history and mythological scenes, like his large scale fresco of Hercules introducing Marcantonio Colonna to Olympus in Palazzo Colonna. Pope Clement XI became his most important patron in the 1720s and commissioned work at S Clemente and S Giovanni in Laterano. His work was popular among British collectors including the 5^th Earl of Exeter, Lord Burlington, John Talman and the Earl of Harrold. He also sent many paintings to patrons in France and Germany, although he himself seems not to have travelled and to have worked only in Rome. He was admitted to the Accademia di S Luca, the guild of painters, in Rome in 1697, and was elected principal three times. Chiari married and had eight children, leaving them and his brother Thomas a considerable fortune when he died. There are some of his drawings in the Royal Collection.

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.