Max Mandl-Maldenau managed several branches of a weaving mill and leather wholesaler in Vienna and in Königinhof an der Elbe (now Dvůr Králové nad Labem, Czech Republic). He and his wife Elsa had valuable interior furnishings in their apartment at Kochgasse 14 in the 8th district, which on account of their value were listed along with the building as a whole by the Bundesdenkmalamt (Federal Monuments Authority) in 1919 during a Wohnungsanforderung (housing requisition). The items included paintings by Old Masters such as Jan van Eyck, Jacob van Ruisdael or Jacopo da Ponte-Bassano. The picture gallery was also open to the public. Because of his Jewish origins, Max Mandl-Maldenau was forced to flee from the Nazi regime in 1938 with his family and to sell his art collection. He sold the collection on 1 July 1938 to the art dealer Friedrich Welz. On 29 June 1938, Galerie Welz in Salzburg obtained eighty-five items for sale on commission, including paintings by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Peter Fendi, Thomas Ender and David Teniers. Johann Peter Krafft's Male Portrait, which the Österreichische Galerie acquired in 1938 from Welz, was on the list of paintings for sale drawn up by Welz. Elsa Mandl-Maldenau managed to flee to France, and died in 1939 in Chantilly. Max Mandl-Maldenau escaped via Britain to Portugal and died in 1942 in Lisbon.

In 1953, Richard L. Winton-Wiener, the couple's son-in-law, inquired with the Bundesdenkmalamt (Federal Monuments Authority) in Vienna as to the whereabouts of his father-in-law's art collection, referring to the persecution and forced sale. Research at establishments such as the Dorotheum and Galerie Welz (recte: Galerie Würthle, Aryanized by Friedrich Welz in April 1938) bore no fruit. The two children, Martin Julius Mandl-Maldenau and Margaret(h)e Winton-Wiener, reported their claims in 1962 to the Fonds zur Abgeltung von Vermögensverlusten politisch Verfolgter (Fund for the Compensation of Loss of Assets of Political Persecutees). In 1966 they received compensation for the seized properties in the 3rd, 7th and 17th districts and the loss of assets. Following provenance research based on the 1998 Art Restitution Act, the Art Restitution Advisory Board recommended the restitution in 2009 of the Krafft portrait by the Österreichische Galerie. The painting was returned to the legal successors in 2011.