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Description: | The meaning of this complex painting remains enigmatic. The forces of worldly pleasure personified by Venus advance triumphantly towards a shore tumbling with sea creatures, tritons and nereids. In the left foreground, Father Time gestures urgently to a melancholy and stupefied group representing Science and the Arts. In the background, a raging battle takes place between Lapiths and Centaurs. Perhaps the subject represents a warning about the triumph of the senses over the intellect? Platzer originated in South Tyrol and studied at the Vienna Academy. He specialised in small and exquisitely painted oils on copper. This is an example of a cabinet painting, intended for the private rather than public rooms of a great house. It was probably commissioned by Count Shouvalov, favourite of the Empress Elizabeth of Russia and the painting remained in Russia until 1931. | Subjects: | allegory (misrule?) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Platzer, Johann Georg (Austrian painter, 1704-1761) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=9163... | Go to resource |
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