Attributed to Rosa de Tívoli

“Attributed to ROSA DE TÍVOLI”; PHILIPP PETER ROOS (Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1657 – Rome, 1706), c. 1700.
“Self-Portrait with a Pastoral Scene.”
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 100 x 75 cm; 110 x 86 cm (frame).
This work, attributed to Rosa de Tívoli—the name by which the German painter Philipp Peter Roos was known—is an interesting example of genre painting developed in Italy around 1700. The composition combines a portrait of the artist with a pastoral scene populated by animals—a theme that brought him great acclaim and became one of the hallmarks of his artistic output. The artist depicts himself set within an idealized rural setting, thus expressing his close connection to nature and country life—elements that characterize much of his work.
Of particular interest is the compositional similarity between this work and the painting *Shepherdess with Goats and Sheep* (Inv. No. P002211), held in the Prado Museum. Both works display a similar arrangement of human figures and animals within a vast rural setting, as well as a shared interest in the idealized depiction of the pastoral world. These affinities reinforce the attribution to Rosa de Tívoli and demonstrate the consistency of an artistic language that made rural life and the depiction of animals the central themes of his pictorial output.
Born into a family of painters and engravers specializing in animal and landscape painting, Roos traveled to Italy in 1677, thanks to a grant awarded by the Landgrave of Hesse. In Rome, he studied with Giacinto Brandi, and in 1684 he moved to Tivoli, the place to which he owes his Italianate nickname “Rosa de Tívoli.” By 1691, he had settled permanently in Rome, becoming part of the group of Dutch painters led by Pieter Laer, “Bamboccio.” He set his scenes, as here, in the Roman countryside. Roos was a member of the Schildersbent, where he earned the nickname “Mercury” because of the speed with which he painted. Although a self-portrait of his survives (c. 1695–1700, Florence, Uffizi), he painted almost exclusively domestic animals with their shepherds in the Roman countryside. Animals typically dominate the foreground in his work, leaving only small glimpses of the landscape beneath a dark sky. He employed an impasto technique and a dramatic treatment of light that lends greater physicality to the animals, which seem to emerge from the shadowy background. In the 1680s, Roos often depicted small groups of animals, frequently led by a billy goat with twisted horns. The shepherds in these works are shown standing off to the side, dressed in coarse clothing, and closely connected to the animals. In the distance, valleys with steep cliffs alternate under different shades of golden light—typically Italian in style—radiating over the distant mountains in light blue tones. Works by Roos are currently preserved at the Prado Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of Granada, Boston, and San Francisco, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Getty in Los Angeles, the Vatican Museum, the Staatliche in Berlin, the Herzog-Anton-Ulrich in Brunswick, the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna, the Courtauld Institute in London, and the Ingres Museum in Montauban (France), among others.