Attributed to Giacomo Raffaelli (1753-1836)

This exquisite portrait is said to depict Giacomo Raffaelli, the so-called father of the art of “micromosaic”. Done in the Studio Raffaelli’s signature style of precise and naturalistic depictions, with minute tesserae and using a plain colour background, it is a very rare example of a portrait of this kind done during this period and it would be a viable assumption therefore that it would depict the much revered head of the studio.

The only two depictions known of Raffaelli are posthumous, done by his grandson Atillio Simonetti, 40 years after his passing and resemble the profile of the present lot – see Anna Maria Massinelli, Giacomo Raffaelli (1753-1836): Maestro di stile e di mosaico, 2018, p. 2, fig. 1 and p.4, fig.2.

The only comparable portrait is of the young General Bonaparte, offered Sotheby's Paris, Voyage À Rome, Collection Particulière Italienne, 4th May 2016, lot 111.