(Otterberg 1631–1685 Frankfurt am Main)
A family of shepherds and their flock in a mountain landscape,
signed and dated lower left: JHROOS fecit 1675,
oil on canvas, 54 x 62 cm, framed

We are grateful to Dr. Hermann Jedding, Hamburg, for confirming the attribution of the present painting. He has added a photograph of this work to the holdings of the Roos Archives.

Johann Heinrich Roos taught himself by methodically studying nature. His numerous sketchbooks are full of drawings of landscapes, which frequently include cattle and pastoral scenes. Although he also treated religious subjects during his early period, contemporaries such as Joachim von Sandrart directed attention to his sensitive portraits and above all to his landscapes and animal scenes. Roos is considered one of the most significant German animal painters of the late 17th century, who continued Dutch realism in Germany through his style. As a rule, his diagonal compositions, which he populated with constantly varying animal groups, always follow the same principle. The present pastoral scene, dating from 1675, shows a landscape of the Campagna with antique ruins and a family of shepherds resting. It has been suggested that a similar painting of almost identical dimensions – A Gypsy Camp amidst Antique Ruins – in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg may have been conceived as a pendant to the present work.