Ernst Zacharias Platner

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Portrait by Friedrich Overbeck , 1810
Ernst Zacharias Platner, drawing by Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein
Epitaph, Rome, Campo Santo Teutonico
The Latin inscription says: “Here rests the famous Mr. Ernst Zacharias Ritter von Platner from Leipzig, royal Saxon chargé d'affaires at the Apostolic See, honored with awards for his services, doctor of philosophy, member of several academies, scholar Descriptor of Rome. He died piously at the age of 82 in the Ides of October 1856 in the city of Rome. He expected the city, which has solid foundations, whose planner and founder is God ( Heb. 11:10  EU ). "

Ernst Zacharias Platner (born October 1, 1773 in Leipzig , † October 14, 1855 in Rome ) was a German diplomat, painter and writer.

Live and act

He was the son of the physician Ernst Platner (1744-1818) and felt called to painting. Ernst Zacharias Platner learned this art in Leipzig from Adam Friedrich Oeser and continued his studies in Dresden and Vienna with Heinrich Friedrich Füger . In 1800 he settled permanently in Rome. He made several large paintings, a "Lucretia" which was exhibited in Dresden in 1799, a "Rejection of the Hagar" and a "Hagar with Ishmael in the desert", but these were only of mediocre quality, which is why this activity was not to cover his livelihood was enough. In addition, Platner dealt extensively with Italian history and art history in Rome.

In the winter of 1817/1818 the bookseller and publisher Johann Friedrich Cotta visited Rome. On the recommendation of the Prussian ambassador Barthold Georg Niebuhr , he won Ernst Zacharias Platner to rework the book about Italy written by Johann Jacob Volkmann (initially the second part containing the description of Rome). In association with Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen and other specialist authors, this resulted in the standard work “Description of the City of Rome” (2 volumes), which appeared in the foreword and goes into detail on Platner and the history of its origins. He also published a biography of the painter Gottlieb Schick , who died in 1812 , which was reissued in 2010.

From 1823 until his death, Ernst Zacharias Platner held the office of business agent of the Kingdom of Saxony at the Holy See . When Pope Pius IX. Had to flee from Rome in 1848 and the short-lived Roman Republic was proclaimed, the revolutionaries at Platner's house tore down the papal coat of arms. Thereupon the diplomat immediately had the Saxon coat of arms removed and said: “His Majesty the King accredited me to His Holiness, but not to you!” Both the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden awarded him an honorary certificate their member.

Ernst Zacharias Platner died in Rome in 1855 and was buried on Campo Santo Teutonico , below the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. His portrait epitaph with the note “... learned descriptor of Rome” is preserved there. Next to it is that of his only son Ferdinand Platner (1824-1896), who also worked as a painter. Gertrud, one of the five daughters, was married to the painter Alexander Maximilian Seitz and became the mother of the even better known artist Ludwig Seitz , director of the Vatican Galleries .

Works

literature

Web links

Commons : Ernst Zacharias Platner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fr. Steger: Supplementary Conversationslexicon. Volume 11, Leipzig 1846, p. 416. (Digital scan)
  2. ^ Ernst Zacharias Platner: About Schicks career and character as an artist. Manutius-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-934877-78-8 .
personal data
SURNAME Platner, Ernst Zacharias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat, painter and writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1773
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1855
Place of death Rome