5 - Johann Georg PLATZER (1704–1761)

Johann Georg PLATZER (1704–1761) Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, Received by Alexander the Great Oil on copper Signed lower left “J. G. Platzer” Dimensions: 66 × 94 cm Provenance: Paris, 3 rue Chaptal, collection of Etienne Edmond Martin (1825–1906), Baron de Beurnonville; Paris, his estate sale, Pillet, May 9–16, 1881, lot 417; Paris, Palais Galliera, Maître Etienne Ader, June 20, 1961, lot 79. Description: Johann Georg Platzer was born in Tyrol in 1704. He trained in painting under his father-in-law, Josef Anton Kessler, and later under his uncle Cristof Platzer, court painter in Passau. In 1726, he enrolled at the Imperial Academy in Vienna under the guidance of Jacob van Schuppen (1670–1751). Around the turn of the 1720s, he met the Silesian diplomat Albrecht von Sebisch (1685–1748), who purchased a set of fourteen paintings from him—including one depicting Alexander and Thalestris—for his art collection in Breslau. This early success immediately established his reputation and financial security. Between 1730 and 1740, Platzer was at the height of his social ascent and in the midst of his most prosperous and productive period; it was surely during these years that he painted this spectacular composition depicting Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, being received by Alexander the Great. During this decade, he established himself as the greatest painter of secular history and conversation pieces in the imperial capital before a neurological illness began to affect him, forcing him to leave Vienna in 1739. His works were highly successful and were all the more sought after because he worked entirely alone, without assistants or studio companions, as revealed by the archives of the Imperial Academy of Vienna. Each painting required meticulous attention to detail and a considerable investment of time on his part to maintain his famous smooth, glazed finish, as evidenced by our painting. This beautiful copperplate depicts the encounter between Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, and Alexander the Great in Hyrcania in 330 B.C. The most complete account of this episode is that of Quintus Curtius in the 1st century. Upon learning that Alexander was campaigning near her kingdom, the queen requested an audience with him. Alexander welcomed Thalestris and her escort of three hundred warrior women and asked her the purpose of her visit. She then explained that she had come with the intention of conceiving a child with him. The child born of such a union would, in her view, be a worthy heir to their empires. If the child were a girl, she would keep her; if it were a boy, she would return him to his father. Alexander accepted Thalestris’s proposal and remained with her for thirteen days, after which she returned to her country. (Quintus Curtius, Histories, Book VI, V). This episode was, of course, already called into question as early as the first century, notably by Arrian and Plutarch, but its lack of historical accuracy has not prevented numerous artists from drawing inspiration from it. For Platzer, depictions of Alexander’s life serve as a metaphor for the imperial absolutism of Charles of Habsburg, known as Charles VI (1685–1740). They also—and above all—provide an opportunity to demonstrate the full extent of his skill by composing spectacular scenes with microscopic precision within the format of a cabinet painting. Platzer depicts the moment when Alexander receives Thalestris, who explains the purpose of her visit. Alexander stands before his tent, surrounded by his entourage, while weapons and pieces of armor are scattered in the foreground. She stands confidently at the center of the composition, followed by her escort of female warriors, who crowd behind her and extend into the background of the painting. The density of the scene, its depth, and the teeming array of details and characters—each individually rendered with varied expressions—constitute a tour de force characteristic of Platzer’s style. This microscopic technique and its smooth finish place the artist within the great tradition of 17th-century Antwerp painting, epitomized by Frans Francken II, Jan Brueghel the Elder, and David Teniers the Younger. Similarly, the decorative abundance, the athletic male figures in sinuous poses, and the lascivious women found in this composition attest to his interest in Mannerism, which earned him the nickname “the Austrian Goltzius,” thus freeing him from the reductive label of “Rococo painter” (Delikatesse der Malerei: Meisterwerke von Johann Georg Platzer, Graz, exhibition catalog, Graz, Alte Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, 2007, p. 12). Furthermore, according to Michael Krapf, the author of the monograph dedicated to the artist, Platzer, through this type of composition, plays the historical role of a bridge within Austrian Baroque: he appropriates the theatricality and spectacular perspectives of the Bibienas and the lessons