Franz Hofstotter is best known for his work with the Loetz Glass company being by far their most significant, valued and collected painter of glass ever to be employed. Hofstotter's Loetz glass have sold for as much as $100,000 USD and his works continue to to get stronger, in 2009 an oil painting of his sold for $19,000 USD. Trained as a traditional painter Franz didn't work for Loetz until 1899 and in 1900 he won a Grand Prix at the Worlds Paris Exposition along side Tiffany, Daum and Galle for his design of Phanonem series glass. This award placed the Loetz Glass company into the forefront of art glass manufacturing and remained highly regarded until their close in 1947.

This is an extremely rare and fine example of Franz Hofstotter in his trained style of painting. His original works in oil are extremely scarce and rarely come up for sale due to the fact that many of his originals were destroyed from air raids in World War II. This old master copy is executed oil painting on wood panel of Johannes Vermeer's "Woman with a Pearl Necklace" originally painted in 1663. This painting has been inspected by professionals at Christies auction and determined to date from the late 19th century.

This work is signed in the lower left corner "N.V.M. F. Hofstotter" scratched into the paint while it was still wet with the backside of a brush. The "N.V.M." above the signature indicates that this was "after Vermeer" - "Nach Ver Meer" (which is how the artists name is sometimes spelled in German). The condition is wonderful making it apparent that it has been well cherished by its owners over the last one hundred plus years. The quality and overall aesthetic beauty is phenomenal especially with this work resting in its original frame. This came out of a considerable collection of European works from a collector in Winter Park, Florida.

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