Shepherd And His Goats, Rosa De Tivoli 17th Century

Shepherd and his herd of goats, large oil on canvas by a painter by Philipp Peter Roos said Rosa de Tivoli.
Oil on canvas in very good condition, Old relining. Recent frame.
Dimensions with the frame 135x116 cm, painting 119x96 cm


Philipp Peter Roos (1655-1705) is the son and pupil of Johann Heinrich Roos. He showed such a disposition for painting that Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, sent him to Italy at his own expense. Arriving in Rome in 1677, Philipp Roos devoted himself to work with extraordinary ardor and learned to paint with prodigious ease.
Count Martinez bet one day with a Swedish general that Roos would do a painting while, on their side, they would play a game of cards, for half an hour. The bet was accepted, and the game was not over when Roos showed a charming landscape, where there were a figure and animals. Roos, being in Rome a pupil of the painter Giacinto Brandi fell in love with his daughter Maria Isabella who was very beautiful and managed to share his love with her. Brandi, informed of this intrigue, sent his daughter to the convent, declaring that he would never take an animal painter as his son-in-law. More in love than ever, Roos wanted to interest Innocent XI in his love, to whom he made it known that he wanted to abjure Protestantism. He became a Catholic and the pope intervened with Brandi, who gave his daughter to Roos. The day after the wedding, in 1681, he sent his father-in-law everything his wife had from him, telling him that the painter of animals did not need anything that belonged to him. Brandi, furious, disinherited his daughter and died soon after of grief and spite. It was at this time that Roos went to live in Tivoli, which gave her the name of Rosa de Tivoli. He multiplied the number of his works so much that he soon could no longer sell them and got used to selling them at a low price. Roos soon fell into poverty and indulged in debauchery.
He would stay away from home for whole months, leaving his wife in his house, where she had for company only the animals of all kinds that he had gathered there. During a trip he made to Rome, the Landgrave of Hesse wanted to see Roos, commissioned him to paint him some pictures and paid him the price. But the painter completely forgot to execute these paintings and died as a result of his excesses.
Roos was the leading animal painter of his time. He painted with extreme ease and rapidity which never harmed the finish of his works. His drawing is correct, his touch broad and soft; its skies are light and transparent, its backgrounds well understood, and its sites are a perfect imitation of nature.
Italy especially is rich in paintings by this master. The Louvre owns a Sheep devoured by a wolf by him and the Vienna museum has a View of the Tivoli waterfalls. We also have some very remarkable engravings by him, “etchings on rustic subjects which are very rare”.