Francesco Novelli after Rembrandt Self-Portrait in a Cap: Laughing

Francesco Novelli (1764–1836): Etchings after Rembrandt

Francesco Novelli (1764–1836) was a Venetian painter and engraver. His father was the artist Pietro Antonio Novelli (1729–1804), a talented draughtsman who produced altarpieces and frescoes throughout northern Italy. Francesco studied with his father and also under the printmaker Dominique Vivant Denon (1747–1825). Denon was a French diplomat who had settled in Venice after learning engraving in Naples; he went on to become the first director of the Louvre.

Between 1789 and 1790 Denon purchased volumes of engravings that had belonged to the Venetian engraver and art dealer Antonio Maria Zanetti the Elder, which included three books with Rembrandt’s prints. Denon subsequently produced engravings after Rembrandt, and Francesco Novelli was particularly influenced in this regard.

This print is believed to be from the posthumous 1860 reprinting of Novelli's etchings.