JOHANN GEORG PLATZER (ST. PAUL IN EPPAN 1704-1761 ST. MICHAEL IN EPPAN)
JOHANN GEORG PLATZER (ST. PAUL IN EPPAN 1704-1761 ST. MICHAEL IN EPPAN)
JOHANN GEORG PLATZER (ST. PAUL IN EPPAN 1704-1761 ST. MICHAEL IN EPPAN)
JOHANN GEORG PLATZER (ST. PAUL IN EPPAN 1704-1761 ST. MICHAEL IN EPPAN)
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Property from an Important Private Collection
JOHANN GEORG PLATZER (ST. PAUL IN EPPAN 1704-1761 ST. MICHAEL IN EPPAN)

An artist's studio

Details
JOHANN GEORG PLATZER (ST. PAUL IN EPPAN 1704-1761 ST. MICHAEL IN EPPAN)
An artist's studio
oil on copper
21 7⁄8 x 291⁄14 in. (55.6 x 74.4 cm.)
inscribed 'I[van] I[vanovitch] Chouvalov' (on the reverse)
Provenance
Commissioned from the artist by Ivan Ivanovitch Shuvalov (1727-1797), St. Petersburg, and by whom presumably gifted to,
Elizaveta Petronova Romanova (1709-1762), Empress of Russia, and by descent in the Russian Imperial family until,
Russian Imperial collections from the Hermitage, Michailoff Palace and Gatchina Palace sale; [Kunstwerke aus den beständen Leningrader Mussen und Schlösser Eremitage Plais Michailoff Gatschina U.A.], Rudolf Lepke, Berlin, 6-7 November 1928, lot 413.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 12 December 1990, lot 28, where acquired by the present owner.
Literature
G. Agath, 'Johann Georg Platzer, ein Gesellschaftsmaler des Wiener Barocks', Belvedere, VIII, 1929, pp. 81-82, illustrated.
R. Schubert, Johann Georg Plazer: Die Genrebilder, unpublished Ph.D, dissertation, Salzburg University, 2000, no. 54.
M. Krapf, Johann Georg Platzer: Der Farbenzauberer des Barock 1704-1761, Vienna, 2014, pp. 115, 120-121 and 312, no. 76, illustrated.

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Lot Essay

This artist’s studio was presumably commissioned directly from the artist along with its pendant, The Sculptor’s Studio, by Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, whose name is inscribed on the reverse of the copper plates (fig. 1; sold at Christie’s, London, 5 July 2018, lot 51). Shuvalov was a favorite of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petronova Romanova, and became a page at her court when she ascended to the throne in 1741. As his influence in court grew, so did his determination to use his status to advance education and the fine arts in his country. He helped to form the Imperial Moscow University, as well as Russia’s first theater and academy of arts, and is remembered as a leader of the Russian Enlightenment.

Johann Platzer must have been pleased with the quality of this pair, as he included his self-portrait in each composition. Here, he is shown at center wearing a fur-lined coat, propping up a painting, proudly gazing at the viewer. Platzer takes a similar pose at the center of another version of The Artist’s Studio, now in The Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. no. 2012.41), where he is shown displaying a painting that is similar to his Allegory of the Four Seasons. It is probable then, that the painting Platzer presents here is one of his own as well, although no large-scale composition of Jupiter and Venus with Cupid is known. The large scale Rape of Helen, however, shown on the far wall of the studio, however, is similar to a number of Platzer’s small-scale paintings of the same subject; of which one such example is now in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. no. P364).

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