# The Artist's Studio

**Johann Georg Platzer** (Austrian, 1704–1761)  
1740s–50s  
oil on copper  
Framed: 55.6 x 73.3 cm (21 7/8 x 28 7/8 in.); Unframed: 41.9 x 60 cm (16 1/2 x 23 5/8 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.41. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/2012.41).

## About this work

Johann Georg Platzer specialized in small, highly detailed paintings scaled for a connoisseur’s cabinet. At the center of this composition is an idealized portrait of the artist himself, clad in a fur-lined robe and holding a painting for the inspection of a visiting connoisseur. This work makes a statement about painting as a noble and intellectual pursuit, and the importance of rigorous training and practice: the artist at the easel is surrounded by a studio teeming with live models, pupils, assistants, and inspiring examples of art from earlier eras. The paintings on the wall, easel, and floor not only reference great artists of the past, but together present an allegory of the five senses.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Johann Georg Platzer painted this in the 1740s–50s, aged about 36. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Oil on copper.** A sheet of copper gives oil paint a hard, glass-smooth surface, ideal for small pictures with jewel-like detail.
- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Johann Georg Platzer](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/johann-georg-platzer)

Austrian, 1704–1761

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Austria
- The artist was about 36
- Real size: about 16 × 24 in (42 × 60 cm). The 18 × 24 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 18th century
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/780.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/780/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-artist-s-studio-cma-170235).