Johann Karl Loth

Probably Antonio Hoevenaar, Amsterdam;
His sale, The Hague, 1693, lot 8, (as "Een Architect, of Beeldhouwer, van denzelven 'Loth');
Possibly acquired by the artist Philip van Dijk;
His sale, The Hague, 13 June 1753, lot 6 (as "Praxiteles met een Hoofdt, zeer kunstig en kraftig geschildert, door Carlo Lotti");
Von Quandt, Dresden;
Herr Geheimer Kommerzienrat Fedor Zschille, Dresden;
His Sale, Cologne, J.M. Heberle, 27-28 May 1889, lot 3 (as by Guercino); 
Acquired by Mutmann, Radolfzell, Germany;
Private Collection, Radolfzell, until 2001;
Private Collection, Germany.

Radolfzell, Museum der Stadt Radolfzell, on loan until 2001.

G. Hoet & P. Terwesten, Catalogus of Naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzlver prysen, Zedert in Holland als op andere plaatzen in openbaar verkogt..., Gravenhage 1770, vol. III, p. 69, no. 6;
G. Ewald, Johann Carl Loth 1632-1698, Amsterdam 1965, p. 116, no. 494; 
S.A.C.D. van Heel, "Honderdvijftig advertenties van kunstverkopingen uit veertig Jaargangen van de Amsterdamsche Courant", in Jaarboek Amstelodamum, 1975, p. 158, no. 34; 
J. Bikker, "Drost's end and Loth's beginning in Venice", in Burlington Magazine, vol. 144, no. 1188, March 2002, p. 155, plate 26 (as "Phidias Comtemplating a Bust").

The model shown here, an elderly man with a distinctive white beard and large hands, can be identified in numerous other works by Loth, including his Saint Romualdus in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice and his Mercury and Argus in the National Gallery, London.  The subject has been a point of some discussion and has been documented under differing titles such as 'an architect or sculptor' and 'a Philosopher (Phidias contemplating a bust)'.  The most convincing hypothesis, however, is that the painting depicts the Greek sculptor and royal portraitist, Praxiteles, contemplating the bust of Alexander the Great.