(St. Michael/Eppan 1704–1761)
The Lamentation of Christ,
signed at lower right: JG: PLAZER,
oil on copper, 38.3 x 46.7 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Vienna
The present painting is accompanied by a certificate (2013) by Dr. Christina Pucher. She will include this previously unpublished work in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné.

Dr. Pucher writes: “In my opinion, this painting is an autograph work of great excellence by the South-Tyrolean painter Johann Georg Platzer (1704–1761). It will be listed in the catalogue raisonné I am currently compiling. [...] In his Lamentation, Platzer conveys the Virgin Mary’s and the early Christian community’s grief and desperation about the death of Jesus. Within a static triangular composition, the protagonists – the Virgin Mary, the dead body of Christ in her lap, and Saint John – form the centre of the picture. In contrast to the primary colours of this central group, the old woman and her young female companion on the right-hand side of the cross are rendered in the earthy and greyish hues of the tertiary level, with the cross looming above their heads. In the thundery sky, a regiment of angels hovers above a band of dark clouds, their vehement gestures expressing deep sorrow. However, the dramatic ‘sacral glow’ of the lights already anticipates the resurrection that is to come. At the left margin, the composition is concluded with the subsidiary figures of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. In the right foreground, Mary Magdalene anoints the Saviour’s feet – an allusion to the scene in the house of Simon. Behind her, a soldier, his knees half bent, points with his lance to the rock in the background where Jesus’s sepulchre is located [...]. In this painting, Platzer once again demonstrates his abilities through his superb mastery of artistic techniques. Thanks to a special treatment of the copper support, he achieves most delicately nuanced and shimmering colours that give the impression of a surface resembling enamel. This technique, combined with copper as a painting ground, accounts for the painting’s good condition [...]”.

Several versions by Platzer of the Lamentation are known, which, as a rule, is accompanied by an Adoration of the Shepherds as a pendant. As an example for such a pair, Dr. Pucher mentions two paintings exhibited in Graz in 2008 (cf. Delikatesse der Malerei, Meisterwerke von Johann Georg Platzer, ed. by U. Becker, exhibition catalogue, Graz 2007, pp. 64ff.), which she assigns to Platzer’s late period, after 1740, due to their painterly rhythm. With reference to the date of the present painting, she comments as follows: “It is always difficult to establish a chronological order for Platzer’s works because he rarely dated them. The manner of painting and the composition suggest a date before 1735”.