Ricciardo Meacci (Italian, b. 1856)

Ricciardo Meacci was an Italian artist who worked in the English Pre-Raphaelite style. He worked exclusively in watercolour and found great success with the aristocratic expatriate English community living in and around Florence. He lived and worked there his entire life, except for the period between 1871 and 1880 when he attended the Academy of Fine Art in Siena. His works are highly detailed and usually of small size, such as the present work. Two of his works can be found in the Royal Collection, one of them a gift to the Queen on her wedding from Violet Cavendish-Bentinck and the other a headboard.