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This portrait of a gentleman was first mentioned in the Dresden gallery catalog of 1835. During the Second World War, it was initially stored in the vault of the Ministry of Finance in Dresden for safekeeping and was later moved to Weesenstein Palace near Pirna. After the end of the war, it was considered lost.

In 2016, the Sotheby's auction house informed the Dresden State Art Collections that a painting very similar to one of Dresden’s war losses had been delivered to its New York branch. However, the New York painting had been comprehensively restored in 2015. Its appearance differed from a photograph of the painting that had been taken in Dresden before the loss. Therefore, it needed to be clarified that it was not another version or copy of the painting from the gallery. A comparison of the smallest details on the basis of the photographs finally made it possible to identify the painting. The decisive factor being, for example, characteristic fine cracks in the painting layer – called craquelé – which can be found in the area of the tablecloth, among other places. After agreement with the interim owners, it returned to the Gemäldegalerie Dresden.