(b Antwerp, c. 1608; d Paris, 19 Sept 1660). Flemish painter, etcher and embroidery designer, active in France. He was a pupil of Andries van Eertvelt. When Plattenberg was about 20 years old, he went to Italy, where he is said to have collaborated with Jan Asselijn. This seems doubtful, however, since by the time Asselijn was in Italy (1635–44) Plattenberg was already working in Paris, where he had arrived c. 1630. He converted his name to the French form of Platte-Montagne and in 1631 married the daughter of the Parisian painter Jean Morin. Plattenberg began his career as an embroidery designer but later earned himself such a good name as a marine painter that he was appointed ‘Peintre du Roy pour les mers’. His paintings of stormy seas tend to be sombre in tone and dramatic, with masses of swirling water and ominous skies (e.g. Storm at Sea; Augsburg, Schaezlerpal). He signed his work Platte-Montagne, Montagne or Montaigne; the latter two forms have sometimes caused confusion with the French marine painter Renaud de La Montagne (d 1644). In 1648 Plattenberg was a founder-member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Paris.

• Plattenberg, Matthieu van
  • Eertvelt, Andries van