Annibale Gatti was an Italian history painter of the 19th century. From the mid-1850s, Gatti received numerous commissions for large fresco projects. In addition to religious scenes for churches and monasteries, he was especially known for his histories in the neo-renaissance style. His most important commissioner was Baroness Fiorella Favard, for whom he produced several oil paintings and decorated her palazzo in Florence as well as her countryside villa. English people living in Florence also appreciated his art. Between 1888 and 1889, Gatti painted a frieze over 40 metres long with tendrils, putti, coats of arms, exotic animals and musical instruments for the villa of Frederick Stibbert (today Museo Stibbert). From 1867, he also painted theatre curtains for theatres all over the world, including Cairo and Bogotá. From the 1870s, public taste changed and Gatti's classicist historicism no longer found collectors. As he also had paralysis in his arm due to an illness from 1898, Gatti painted exclusively small-format works in the last years of his life, mainly portraits and self-portraits.