CERL Thesaurus

Paggi, Giovanni Battista

Record IDcnp01101729

URIhttp://data.cerl.org/thesaurus/cnp01101729

Biographical Data1554 - 1627

Last Edit2024-02-08

More Information

Further Biographical Data1554-1627

ActivityPersonen zu Malerei, Zeichnung, Grafik (13.4p) (sswd)

Künstler (gnd)

Maler (gnd)

CountryItalien

Geographic NoteIT (iso3166)

Names

HeadingPaggi, Giovanni Battista
used in: Integrated Authority File (GND), Germany

Variant NamePaggi, Giovan Battista

Paggi, Giovanbattista

Paggi, Giovambattista

Sources

Found inLCAuth

"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."
[Giuseppe Macpherson / Royal Collection RCIN 421296 -- Public domain -- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giovanni Battista Paggi, by Giuseppe Macpherson.jpg]