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Lot Essay
Born into a family of painters in the southern Tyrol, Platzer became the chief exponent of the Austrian Rococo style. Mainly a painter of historical and allegorical subjects, Platzer imbued his scenes with brilliant jewel-like colors and meticulous finish as exemplified by this well preserved copper depicting Alexander the Great before the high priest Jaddua. His only serious rival in this field was his friend Franz Christoph Janneck, whom he had met upon his arrival at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunst in Vienna in 1726, and who painted a number of works in a very similar if somewhat less detailed manner. Platzer's miniaturist technique and predilection for the use of copper as a support reveal his clear debt to the Leiden fijnschilders ('fine painters') of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
This subject is taken from Flavius Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities (Book 11, 8:5) in which the Romano-Jewish historian recounts Alexander the Great meeting the high priest Jaddua. After successful military campaigns, Alexander led his armies to Jerusalem to conquer the city where he was met by a procession of priests and citizens. Alexander showed unexpected reverence for the high priest, a display that perplexed his army. In response, Alexander clarified that he was not worshipping the high priest but rather the God who honored Jaddua with the high priesthood. Alexander recounted a dream in Dios, Macedonia, where the high priest appeared, encouraging him to swiftly cross the sea and promising victory over the Persians. Convinced that divine guidance was leading his conquest, Alexander spared the city and peacefully entered Jerusalem.
Once in Jerusalem, Alexander ascends to the temple, offering sacrifices in alignment with the high priest's guidance. The Book of Daniel is presented to him, prophesying a Greek figure toppling the Persian empire, and Alexander identifies himself as the foretold conqueror. Delighted, he grants the Jews the freedom to adhere to their ancestral laws and exemption from paying him tribute on each seventh year. In a magnanimous gesture, Alexander extended his promises to Jews in Babylon and Media.
This copper was accompanied by a pendant showing Alexander the Great encountering Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons when it was in the collection of the baron de Beurnonville in 1881. The pair were separated when sold at auction in 1961. The collection of the baron de Beurnonville was among the most distinguished formed in France in the second half of the nineteenth century. Dispersed in sales between 1872 and 1906, it comprised more than a thousand paintings and also included drawings and works of art. The majority were by or attributed to Northern artists active in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including works given to such luminaries as Jan van Eyck, Hugo van der Goes, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling, Jan Gossaert, Hendrick Goltzius, Sir Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob van Ruisdael, as well as Rembrandt's Landscape with an Obelisk of 1638 (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston). French painting was represented by François-Hubert Drouais' Portrait of Madame de Pompadour (National Gallery, London) as well as paintings by Chardin, Fragonard, Ingres and Delacroix, whilst works by Italian artists included Tiepolo's Apotheosis of Aeneas (possibly Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA) and Triumph of Flora (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum).
This subject is taken from Flavius Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities (Book 11, 8:5) in which the Romano-Jewish historian recounts Alexander the Great meeting the high priest Jaddua. After successful military campaigns, Alexander led his armies to Jerusalem to conquer the city where he was met by a procession of priests and citizens. Alexander showed unexpected reverence for the high priest, a display that perplexed his army. In response, Alexander clarified that he was not worshipping the high priest but rather the God who honored Jaddua with the high priesthood. Alexander recounted a dream in Dios, Macedonia, where the high priest appeared, encouraging him to swiftly cross the sea and promising victory over the Persians. Convinced that divine guidance was leading his conquest, Alexander spared the city and peacefully entered Jerusalem.
Once in Jerusalem, Alexander ascends to the temple, offering sacrifices in alignment with the high priest's guidance. The Book of Daniel is presented to him, prophesying a Greek figure toppling the Persian empire, and Alexander identifies himself as the foretold conqueror. Delighted, he grants the Jews the freedom to adhere to their ancestral laws and exemption from paying him tribute on each seventh year. In a magnanimous gesture, Alexander extended his promises to Jews in Babylon and Media.
This copper was accompanied by a pendant showing Alexander the Great encountering Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons when it was in the collection of the baron de Beurnonville in 1881. The pair were separated when sold at auction in 1961. The collection of the baron de Beurnonville was among the most distinguished formed in France in the second half of the nineteenth century. Dispersed in sales between 1872 and 1906, it comprised more than a thousand paintings and also included drawings and works of art. The majority were by or attributed to Northern artists active in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including works given to such luminaries as Jan van Eyck, Hugo van der Goes, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling, Jan Gossaert, Hendrick Goltzius, Sir Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob van Ruisdael, as well as Rembrandt's Landscape with an Obelisk of 1638 (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston). French painting was represented by François-Hubert Drouais' Portrait of Madame de Pompadour (National Gallery, London) as well as paintings by Chardin, Fragonard, Ingres and Delacroix, whilst works by Italian artists included Tiepolo's Apotheosis of Aeneas (possibly Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA) and Triumph of Flora (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum).