ROOS PHILIPP PETER known as ROSA DA TIVOLI (attr. to) (Frankfurt, 1655 or 1657 - Rome, 1706) Landscape with animals Oil on canvas, 94X129 cm Provenance: Private collection The son of the painter Johann Heinrich Roos, Philipp Peter Roos, also known as Rosa da Tivoli, arrived in Italy in 1677 and spent the rest of his life there. After his apprenticeship with Giacinto Brandi, whose daughter Maria Isabella he married in 1681, he devoted himself to painting the Latium countryside. After moving to Tivoli, hence his nickname, he specialised in Arcadian landscapes, depicting animals in particular. A comprehensive study of his vast production has not yet been undertaken, but there is no doubt about the remarkable critical and commercial fortune he achieved, so much so that his works were collected all over Europe. The aesthetic distinctiveness of the painting under examination is unquestionable, offering a useful qualitative yardstick to distinguish it from the products of his prolific workshop, by comparing it with the autographs conserved in Palazzo Doria Pamphili in Rome, those in the Hermitage Museum, the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and finally in Castello Sforzesco. Reference bibliography: A. G. De Marchi, in Museo d'Arte Antica del Castello Sforzesco di Milano, Milan 2001, V, pp. 291-292