Michael Sweerts was a Flemish painter, born in Brussels, the son of a linen merchant. From 1646-51 he was living in Rome in the area of Santa Maria del Popolo with a group of northern painters known as the Bentvueghels (birds of a feather). He painted genre scenes (images of ordinary life) and history paintings as well as portraits and mixed with wealthy merchants in addition to fellow artists. His patrons included the Deutz family and Prince Camillo Pamphili, nephew of Pope Innocent X. He was knighted by the pope, worked as a papal representative at the customs house and apparently spoke seven languages. By 1656, however, he was back in Brussels where he founded a drawing academy and he became a member of the guild of St Luke (the artists' guild) in 1659. In 1660, he made a life-changing move to Amsterdam and joined the Société des Missions Etrangères. In 1661, Sweerts travelled with Bishop François Pallu on a mission to Asia. Four of the party died en route and Sweerts parted company with the mission in Iran because, as the leader of the mission recorded, he was 'not the master of his own mind'. He explained, 'I do not think that the mission was the right place for him, nor he the right man for the mission'. Sweerts journeyed on to the Portuguese Jesuit centre in Goa, India and stayed until his death.

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.