Giacomo Raffaelli (1753-1836) worked in both the Vatican workshops as well as his own atelier in the Piazza di Spagna, where the numerous mosaic workshops were clustered to take advantage of travellers on the grand tour. By 1775 he was already well known as a skilled micromosaicist, creating complex compositions using tiny tesserae made from spun enamel of exceptional finesse, a technical innovation made possible through the work of the chemist Alessio Mattioli. Extensively patronised by Pope Pius VI (1775-1799) and credited by Moroni as the 'caposcuola del mosaico in piccolo' in his Dizionario di erudidizione storia ecclesiastica, Venice, 1847-1860, Raffaelli's micromosaics are characterised by their sophistication of tonal modulation and smalti filati, as well as by the sense of motion and naturalism that are instilled in the compositions.
Butterflies were a popular subject for artists working in micromosaics as the insect had, in Roman times, symbolised the belief that the soul leaves the body through the mouth at the time of death and so subsequently represented rebirth; several examples have been sold by Christie's in recent years. These have included one from the Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, Christie's, London, 11 April 2002, lot 894, and one from the property of Diana Keggie, Christie's, South Kensington, 30 November 2005, lot 136, another on 15 July 2020, lot 109. For another butterfly micromosaic by Giacomo Raffaelli see D. Petochi, I mosaici minuti Romani, Florence, 1981, p. 111, pl. 33.