Company in the Castle Park

Company in a Salon Listening to Music, one of the pair of signed pendant paintings depicts a merry music-making company in a palace interior. The man seated in the foreground and playing the cello in all probability depicts the artist, who enjoyed painting himself into his compositions. The pictures decorating the interior painted in this image represent the individual genres of painting. The mythological scene with the subject of Venus Chastising Cupid has a moralizing character intended as a warning against the somewhat unrestrained entertainment of some of the guests. The painting’s composition is dominated by a genre picture with the theme of a painter’s studio. Platzer’s Society in the Castle Park forms a pendant to this painting. Platzer went to Vienna to study art at the Academy and was professionally active there until 1739. He often conceived his paintings as pendants. Besides biblical and mythological scenes he was inspired in his work by Flemish and Dutch art of the 17th century. The same can be said of these counterparts that draw on the tradition of depicting noble society in palace interior or castle park.