Mauro Gandolfi was known for his meticulous drawings, which were copies of Old Master paintings and often used for engravings. He also did paintings, many which were of nude male figures and of male heads.

Gandolfi was born in Bologna and traveled away from Italy to France in 1780 for five years, going to Marseilles, Strasburg and Paris. In 1785, he returned to Bologna, and in 1785, was elected professor at the Accademia Clementina.

Sixteen years later, in 1801, he returned to Paris, having been invited there by Pierre Laurent and Robillard Peronville to make drawings for etchings from major works in the Louvre. He also worked for the Galerie Talleyrand, restoring several of the...