Carlo Dolci (1616-86) was a Florentine painter. He was a pupil of Jacopo Vignali from the age of nine, and developed a meticulous, highly polished style that made his religious paintings and his portraits popular with the Medici family. According to his biographer, Filippo Baldinucci, Dolci also painted still lives but only one painting of this genre has survived – a Vase of Flowers (Florence, Uffizi). Dolci spent all his life in Florence apart from one short trip to Innsbruck in 1672. He was extremely devout and saw his artistic skills as a gift from God, to be used to inspire others to turn to Christianity. Often, on the reverse of his paintings, he would record the date on which he began the work, with the name of the saint venerated and a short prayer. British visitors to Florence admired Dolci's work, and Sir John Finch, the English resident (diplomatic representative) there, built up a substantial collection. Sir John gave two of Dolci's paintings – Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (RCIN405639) and The Penitent Magdalen (RCIN 405546) – to King Charles II.

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.