The builder of the Haus zum Kirschgarten was an influential silk ribbon manufacturer and had held the influential post of director of the merchants' association since 1777. Here he had himself portrayed as a private citizen. The Apollo statuette and the books indicate his erudition and artistic sense. The Dresden court painter Anton Graff gives with this picture a convincing example of his art as a preferred portraitist and especially as a pioneer of the natural portrait.