Reverse glass painted portraits were popular in Britain, Europe and America in the second half of the nineteenth century. They were produced to satisfy demand from the general public for images of well-known national and international figures.

Italian patriot and republican Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi (1807–1882) visited Northumberland in 1854 and London in 1864. There is little doubt that the visits would have increased demand for images of him in the UK and elsewhere, and although specific dates of production are seemingly not documented, it is generally accepted that the majority of portraits of Garibaldi would have been produced during the 1850s and 1860s, when he was at the height of his fame. This example depicts Garibaldi in middle age and is thus likely to be based on an image from the early 1850s.