Artist active in the circle of Rembrandt van Rijn, circa 1640-1650

Empress Maria Theresa (1717-1780), Vienna, recorded in her Picture Gallery in 1772, inv. no. 204 (as "A Breast piece (half portrait), showing a man leaning on his hand, and sleeping, painted in the manner of Reinbrands (Rembrandt)");
Thence by descent to Karl Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (1818-1874), Vienna;
Thence by exchange with private collector;
Han Coray (1880-1974) and Dorrie Stoop (1895-1928), Zurich and Erlenbach;
By whom offered at their sale, Lucerne, Theodore Fischer, 29 July 1925, lot 10 (as Karel Fabritius), where unsold;
Han Coray's sale, Berlin, Wertheim, 1 October 1930, lot 68 (as Carel Fabritius), for 55,000 Reichsmark;
Sale, Lucerne, Theodore Fischer, 2-5 September, 1942, lot 75 (as Fabritius), where unsold and reoffered with lot 1275 as a combined offering;
With A. Mak, Amsterdam;
Anonymous sale, Lucerne, Fischer Gallery, 9-11 May 1989, lot 2962 (as Manner of C. Fabritius);
Where acquired by Johnny van Haeften, London;
With Haboldt & Co., Paris, by 1991 (as Willem Drost);
From whom acquired by Mauro Herlitzka, New York and Buenos Aires;
From whom acquired by a private collector, Switzerland;
From whom acquired by the present owners.

J. Rosa, Inventarium über Die in der Kaiserl. Königl. Bilder-Gallerie vorhandene Bilder und Gemälde, 1772, archive of the Picture Gallery, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, no. 204;
Portrait de l'artiste, images des peintres 1600-1890, exhibition catalogue, Paris 1991, p. 42, cat. no. 14 (as Drost);
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau and Pfalz 1994, vol. 6, p. 3704, cat. no. 2258, reproduced in color p. 3843 (as Drost);
J. Bikker, Willem Drost (1633-1659): A Rembrandt Pupil in Amsterdam and Venice, New Haven and London 2005, pp. 150-151, reproduced fig. R20 (under rejected paintings).

Paris, Haboldt & Co., Portrait de l'artiste, images des peintres 1600-1890, 1991-1992, no. 14 (as Willem Drost).