The universe of author’s painting meets millimetric precision in the creations of the artist Stefano Busonero. Born in 1947 in Porto Santo Stefano, on the Argentario, the painter completed an extraordinary work: the miniature reproduction of Deposition by Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio. The work was created on a surface of just 8 millimeters in diameter, located on the small terrestrial globe engraved on the back of a 5 cent coin.
To trace the details, the contrasts of light and shadow and even his own signature, the painter used a truly singular tool: a single hair taken from his cat, inserted inside the cavity of a syringe needle. Working freehand and with the help of a stereoscope, the artist took weeks and thousands of oil micro-brushstrokes to complete each work, defining his painting as an act of gentle resistance against the modern digital frenzy. His great goal remains to inaugurate the Microscopic Painting Museum in Porto Santo Stefano, an exhibition space where visitors can admire his works through special magnifying glasses.
@Stefano Busonero
The Guinness record, the donation to Pope Leo XIV and the next challenges
Stefano Busonero’s artistic career began in 1983 with traditional figurative painting and portraits of local fishermen. The turning point towards micro-dimensions came with victory in a miniatures competition, culminating in 1996 with entry into the Guinness Book of Records thanks to a 0.30 by 0.35 millimeter portrait of Padre Pio painted on the edge of a telephone card, a category later removed due to the judges’ difficulty in measuring such tiny works.
The artist’s repertoire includes masterpieces such as Venus by Sandro Botticelli, the Mona Lisa and the Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, as well as reproductions of the frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura by Raffaello Sanzio and the Last Judgment by Michelangelo Buonarroti, donated on 10 December 2025 to Pope Leo XIV. At almost 80 years old, the painter has already reproduced the Saint Francis in meditation and began the draft of David and Goliathaiming to complete at least 10 works dedicated to the Lombard master to pay homage to the memory of the artist, who died in Porto Ercole on the Argentario promontory.
@Stefano Busonero
