(St. Michael/Eppan 1704–1761)
Two genre scenes: An outdoor concert; A game of cards,
oil on panel, each 44.2 x 36.2 cm, framed, a pair (2)

Provenance:
sale, Sotheby’s, London, 4th December 1997, lot 235;
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 29th September 2004, lot 300;
sale, Christie’s, London, 3rd December 2008, lot 231;
Galerie d’Art Saint-Honoré, Paris;
Private collection, Southern Germany;
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 15th October 2013, lot 573 (sold for € 110,100);
Private collection, Belgium

We are grateful to Christina Pucher, editor of the catalogue raisonné of the works of Johann Georg Platzer, for confirming the authenticity of the present pair. An extensive certificate dated 24th July 2013 is available. Pucher on the Outdoor Concert: “In front of a terrace adorned with a mythological frieze and two magnificent vases containing plants, Platzer describes the extravagant lifestyle of the Rococo, dressing his protagonists in 17th century costume, as he frequently did. A corpulent suitor has made himself comfortable in the garden. He holds a glass of wine in his right hand, while his left hand lies around the waist of his beloved, who is dancing and playing on a lute. A youth (Cupid?) offers them fruit – ‘the sweet fruit of life’ – on a silver plate. The young couple demonstrate their devotion to each other. An old woman, rendered as a half-length figure behind the luxurious chair and holding a wine bottle in her hands, watches the scene with a serious expression on her face, raising her index finger in order to warn the couple of the consequences of their deeds. In the left background the scene is rounded off with a dancing couple and the distant view of a chapel. The chapel is meant to indicate the blessings of the church for this amorous relationship, while the roses in the hair of the young girl are a symbol of conjugal fidelity. The thistle in the foreground alludes to the difficulties of marital life. With the rose tendrils and the figures of the young girl and the old woman, Platzer intended to hint at the transience of beauty. In addition to the interpretations mentioned above, Outdoor Concert may also recall an Allegory of the Five Senses.”

For the present composition, Platzer referred largely to his Musical Entertainment (formerly Georg Schäfer Collection, Schweinfurt), to which he added the figure of the juvenile servant with the silver tray.

Pucher on the Game of Cards: “A boisterous company of people dressed in 17th century costume enjoy themselves in an elegant interior with music and game. At the table, a young woman confidently plays the ace of hearts as a sign that her love is for sale. She triumphantly shows her hand, which contains the queen and jack of hearts, to her fellow player, a rich elderly man. She plays foul, for her accomplice lets her see the miserable hand of her opponent with the aid of a mirror. A harpist provides the musical framework for the betrayal […].” This painting, too, turns out to be a slightly modified replica of a work by Platzer from the Georg Schäfer Collection in Schweinfurt, namely An Elegant Company Playing a Game of Cards. The interior and the figures around the table are almost identical. Pucher on this aspect: “Similar to his contemporary and colleague Franz Christoph Janneck, Platzer looked back to his own standard repertoire of figures and decorative elements and combined them to create ever new compositions […].” A further variant of the card players appeared on the German art market in 1992 and then again in 2008. Pucher: “The fact that Platzer painted several high quality replicas of this subject suggests that it was much in demand. The themes treated in those two pendants had already enjoyed great popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries. They came with a moral lesson and were meant as warnings against the dangers of gambling and an excessive consumption of wine. As contemporary genre scenes, they were intended to both entertain and instruct. The two pendants display Platzer’s characteristically accurate manner of painting. The subtly nuanced palette allows for an extremely delicate rendering of the figures, physiognomies, and precious fabrics. Thanks to a varied handling of light, they exhibit the shimmering quality for which Platzer’s art was so much admired […].” Pucher assumes that the two present paintings were executed before 1740.