Nymphs and Satyrs Drinking
Johann Georg Platzer·c. 1740
Historical Context
This companion piece to Platzer's Bacchic Revels depicts nymphs and satyrs in a wine-drinking scene, another mythological subject perfectly suited to the Viennese artist's taste for sensuous, intimate compositions. Painted on copper around 1740, it exemplifies the refined cabinet pictures that made Platzer popular among aristocratic collectors in the Habsburg lands. These small, jewel-like works were meant for private display and intimate viewing.
Technical Analysis
The copper support provides the smooth, luminous surface that enhances Platzer's miniaturist technique. The flesh tones glow with porcelain-like translucency, and the architectural setting is rendered with meticulous perspective and ornamental detail.
Provenance
Sale, Sotheby’s, London, July 5, 1967, no. 88, the pair to Böhler; Julius Böhler, Munich from 1967 until sold to P. and D. Colnaghi, London [according to email of July 2002 from Georgina Duits to Martha Wolff, copy in curatorial file]; sold by Colnaghi to the Art Institute, 1974.
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