Johann Georg Platzer (Saint Paul in Eppan 1704-1761 Saint Michael in Eppan)
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION 
Johann Georg Platzer (Saint Paul in Eppan 1704-1761 Saint Michael in Eppan)

Alexander the Great receiving keys of Babylon

细节
Johann Georg Platzer (Saint Paul in Eppan 1704-1761 Saint Michael in Eppan)
Alexander the Great receiving keys of Babylon
oil on copper
16 x 23½ in. (40.6 x 59.7cm)
来源
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 8 December 1989, lot 47 (£22,000). Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 24 January 2002, lot 23 ($87,000), where acquired by the present owner.
拍场告示
We are grateful to Dr. Christina Pucher for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs (private communication, 21 May 2012).

荣誉呈献

Alan Wintermute
Alan Wintermute

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拍品专文

Best known for his distinctive interpretation of the Austrian Rococo style, Platzer studied with his father and uncle before enrolling at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Vienna in 1726.

The present painting is a remarkable display of the artist's use of brilliant, jewel-like coloring and meticulous finish to create small-scale cabinet paintings of historical or allegorical subjects as well as genre scenes and conversation pieces. Platzer's miniaturist technique and predilection for the use of copper as a support reveal his debt to the Leiden fijnschilders of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The subject of the present painting is based on an episode from the life of Alexander the Great. In October 331 BC, Alexander conquered Babylon and upon entering the city, met with the city's priests, the Chaldaeans. In 323 BC, after conquering Asia Minor, he passed through Babylon again, where he contracted an illness and died.

Platzer depicted other scenes from the life of Alexander the Great including The Amazon Queen, Thalestris, in the camp of Alexander the Great (sold, Christie's, London, 8 July 2008, lot 24).