English: Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky (1710-1775), merchant, financier, art dealer and collecting advisor to Frederick the Great, Berlin, by 1764, when recorded as 'Rembrand', '1. alter Mann, der mit dem Kopf auf der linken hand ruht. Extra fein gemahlt', (28 x 23 inches), priced at 600 Reichstaler; by whom sold in 1764 en bloc with 316 other paintings to

Catherine II the Great, Empress of Russia (1729-1796), founder of the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, as Rembrandt, recorded in an inventory made after her death, in 1797, no. 3654, and by descent to her grandson, Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia (1796-1855), The Imperial Collection at the Winter Palace, Saint Petersburg, possibly sold in 1854 (Prevot, Saint Petersburg, 6 June 1854 and following days, lot 636, as 'XXXXX. XXXXXX XXXXXXX' ('Flinck. Head of an old man.'), the dimensions incorrectly given as 6.3 x 5 vershki or by descent to his son, Alexander II, Emperor of Russia (1818-1881), by whom sent to Moscow in 1862 with 200 other pictures from The Hermitage, for the picture gallery of the newly-established Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums. Acquired by Wilhelm Friedrich Mertens (c. 1870-1957)or by his son,

Wilhelm Mertens (1899-1938), both Saint Petersburg until 1917-1918, and subsequently Leipzig, certainly by 1932, and by descent to the present owners.