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

Provenance:
sale, Sotheby’s, London, 4 December 1997, lot 235;
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 29 September 2004, lot 300;
sale, Christie’s, London, 3 December 2008, lot 231;
Galerie d’Art Saint-Honoré, Paris;
private collection, Southern Germany

We are grateful to Dr. Christina Pucher, editor of the catalogue raisonné on Johann Georg Platzer, for confirming the present paintings as autograph works by the artist. The paintings come with an extensive certificate dated 24 July 2013. Dr. Pucher has written of A Music-Making Party Outdoors: ‘In front of a terrace decorated with a mythological frieze and two magnificent vases containing plants, Platzer highlights the extravagant lifestyle of the Rococo, dressing his figures in 17th-century costumes as he frequently did. A corpulent suitor has made himself comfortable in the garden, holding a glass of wine in his right hand, while his left lies around the waist of his beloved, who is dancing while playing on a lute. A youth (Cupid?) offers the couple fruit – the ‘sweet fruit of life’ – on a silver plate. The young people 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, 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 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 meant to hint at the transcience of beauty. Apart from the aforementioned interpretations, this outdoor party may also be seen as 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. Dr. Pucher writes on the Game of Cards: ‘A boisterous party of people dressed in 17th-century costumes enjoy themselves with music and game in an elegant interior. At the table, a young woman confidently plays the ace of hearts as a sign that her love is for sale, while she triumphantly shows a rich elderly fellow player her hand, with the queen and jack of hearts. 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 Party Playing a Game of Cards. The interior and the figures around the table are almost identical. Pucher writes on this aspect: ‘Similar to his contemporary and colleague Franz Christoph Janneck, Platzer harked back to his own large standard repertoire of figures and decorative elements and combined them to create ever-new compositions….’ A further variant of the subject of card players appeared on the German art market in 1992 and then again in 2008. Pucher adds: ‘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 enjoyed great popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries. They were linked to a moral lesson and were a warning against the dangers of gambling and excessive wine drinking. As contemporary genre scenes they were intended to both entertain and instruct. The two pendants display Platzer’s typically accurate manner of painting, with a richly nuanced palette ensuring a most 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 appreciated….’ Dr. Pucher assumes that the two present paintings were executed before 1740.