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3 - Johann Georg PLATZER (1704–1761)
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Estimate €60,000 - €80,000
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Description
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, 9–16 May 1881, lot 417; Paris, Palais Galliera, Maître Etienne Ader, 20 June 1961, lot 79. Description: Johann Georg Platzer was born in Tyrol in 1704. He trained as a painter under his father-in-law, Josef Anton Kessler, and subsequently under his uncle Cristof Platzer, court painter in Passau. In 1726, he enrolled at the Imperial Academy in Vienna under the tutelage of Jacob van Schuppen (1670–1751). In the early 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 rise and in the midst of his most prosperous and productive period; it was undoubtedly 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 condition began to affect him, forcing him to leave Vienna in 1739. His works enjoyed great success 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 in Vienna. Each painting demanded 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 meeting between Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, and Alexander the Great in Hyrcania in 330 BC. The most comprehensive account of this episode is that of Quintus Curtius Rufus from the 1st century. On 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, called into question as early as the first century, notably by Arrian and Plutarch, but the lack of historical accuracy has not prevented many 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 retinue, whilst weapons and pieces of armour are scattered in the foreground. She stands confidently at the centre of the composition, followed by her escort of female warriors, who crowd behind her and extend into the background of the composition. The density of the scene, its depth, the profusion of details and the multitude of characters—each individually rendered with a variety of 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, epitomised 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 bear witness 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 catalogue, Graz, Alte Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, 2007, p. 12). Furthermore, according to Michael Krapf, the author of the monograph on the artist, Platzer, through this type of composition, plays the historical role of a bridge within Austrian Baroque: he draws on the theatricality and spectacular perspectives of the Bibienas and the lessons in light from the founding fathers of monumental Baroque, such as Rottmayr and Altomonte, condensing them into the infinitely small. In this way, he passed on this legacy to the next generation of painters, such as Paul Troger and Franz Anton Maulbertsch (Michael Krapf, *Johann Georg Platzer: Der Farbenzauberer des Barock*, 2004, p. 29). We know of two versions of another composition on this same subject painted by Platzer, almost certainly between 1729 and 1732: one was sold at Christie’s in London in 2008 (London, Christie’s, 8 July 2008, lot 24 (https://www.christies.com/fr/lot/lot-5101831)) and the other held at the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico (inv. 64.0476). This copperplate was held in the collection of Baron de Beurnonville (1825–1906), together with a companion piece, Alexander the Great before the High Priest Jaddua. The Baron de Beurnonville’s collection was assembled in France during the second half of the 19th century and dispersed at auctions between 1872 and 1906. It comprised over a thousand paintings and drawings, mostly by Northern European artists, including such great names 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 French artists such as Chardin, Fragonard, Ingres and Delacroix, and Drouais, whose famous portrait of Madame de Pompadour is now held at the National Gallery in London. The pair of paintings by Platzer, including our *Alexandre et Thalestris*, was first sold in 1881 and then separated at an auction in 1961. The companion piece to our painting was subsequently put up for sale in Paris in 1961 (Paris, Palais Galliera, Auctioneer Etienne Ader, 20 June 1961, lot 80) and subsequently at Christie’s in New York in 2024, having previously been part of the collection of J. E. Safra (New York, Christie’s, 31 January 2024, lot 65 (https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6467242)).
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Auction time 11/05/2026 at 2:00 PM
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