This chair comes from a set from the Villa di San Donato, at Fiesole, Italy, which belonged to Count Anatole Demidoff (1813-1870). Demidoff was one of the greatest Russian collectors, whose enormous wealth was based on mines and steel mills in his home country. The Villa was bought by his father, Count Nikolay (1773-1828), and possibly the chairs as well, after he was appointed Russian ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in 1819.
Owing to the Demidoff connection, this chair, with its very distinctively framed neo-classical design, was initially thought to be Russian. However, it is now thought to be Roman, as it is similar to a set in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, and virtually identical to a set of chairs from Ickworth, Suffolk (National Trust), which are known to have come from the Villa Borghese, also in Rome.