Giovanni Contarini (1549-c. 1604) initially trained as a notary, but decided to study painting instead, producing first portraits, then mythological and religious paintings in Venice. He was a follower of Titian and his contemporaries. Carlo Ridolfi, Contarini's biographer, claimed that the artist 'always showed more of an inclination towards colour rather than drawing, having learnt the art with a brush in his hand'. In 1579, he moved to Prague and later to Innsbruck, working for Rudolph II, from whom he received a knighthood. He wears the insignia in his Uffizi self-portrait. He left Innsbruck in 1596, apparently after a scandal concerning a lady of the court, and returned to Venice. Here he was brought before the courts and fined for practising painting while not being a member of the painters' guild. His most important public work, which brought him swift recognition, was his paintings for the doge's palace in Venice, The Reconquest of Verona and Doge Marino Grimani kneeling before the Virgin among saints. Towards the end of his life he was responsible for the decoration of the vault of the church of S Francesco di Paola in Venice.

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 Giuseppe Macpherson (1726-1780) to paint. 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 at the time.