Lot 252: - Johann Georg Platzer , St Paul in Eppan near Meran 1704 - 1761 St Michael in Eppan "the love letter"; "the interruption" a pair, both oil on copper, in carved and gilt wood frames

a pair, both oil on copper, in carved and gilt wood frames Quantity: 2

measurements note each: 12.2 by 16.5 cm.; 4 3/4 by 6 1/2 in.

Johann Georg Platzer was born into a family of minor painters in the South Tyrol, studying first in Innsbruck with his step-father, the history painter Stephan Kessler (d. 1721), before completing his training with his uncle Jakob Christoph Platzer, the court painter in Passau. In circa 1726 Platzer, still in his early twenties, travelled to Vienna in search of his fortune, and enrolled at the academy there in 1728. Upon his arrival he became a friend of the contemporary painter Franz Christoph Janneck (1703-1761). Both Janneck and Platzer were to produce exquisite jewel-like copper panels with an astonishing attention to detail - such as the present very well preserved example - which are reminiscent of the degree of skill and polish of the 17th-century Leiden fijnschilders. Before long Platzer had become the most fashionable painter in the city and was receiving numerous commissions from the Viennese nobility. Less prolific than Janneck, Platzer is considered the finer of the two artists, although his career was affected by his return in 1739 to the Tyrol due to ill health (still only thirty-five years old, he was probably suffering from Parkinson's disease).

The present theme of deceipt and lust is a motif which Platzer returned to on numerous occassions during his career; another very fine example was offered in these Rooms on 8 December 2004, lot 50. We are grateful to Dr. Christina Pucher for endorsing the attribution of these coppers to Platzer on the basis of photographs.