Lot 2074 Dα

Arriving in Rome from his native Frankfurt in 1677, Phillip Peter was the son and pupil of Johann Heinrich Roos (1631-1685), a landscape artist, portraitist and antiquarian. He was also amongst the favourite artists of Landgrave Karl of Hesse-Kassel (1654 - 1730) (Jedding 1998) and under the latter´s protection, the Roos - father and son - travelled to Rome. In his early Roman work, the young Roos continued to focus on the depiction of animals, which he treated with an astonishing realism that led him to become one of the most celebrated animal painters of his time.
These four landscapes were almost certainly painted as a commission. They were most likely intended as overdoors and could even be identical to the four overdoors with animals in landscapes recorded in the 1727 inventories of the brothers Lodovico and Lattanzio Sergardi, Sienese aristocrats living in Rome (according to the Getty Provenance Index). Roos composed the scenes with elegance and freedom, whilst at the same time remaining faithful to a naturalistic and accurate rendering of the animals. The backgrounds are topographically accurate and reproduce the areas surrounding Mounts Tiburtini and Prenenstini, long studied by the German artist. The painter carefully reproduces details from the countryside, with recognisable villas, ruins, and farms.
In the White Deer Hunt, the artist depicts a rare albino mutant race of ancient Latium, a mythical animal since ancient times. At the time, white deer were actually present in the forests around Rome. They were found in the woods of the Dukes in Poli, as well as in the forests around Bracciano. The theme was particularly popular, and Roos executed other versions of it, such as The Great White Deer Attacked by Seven Dogs, today housed in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Pendant to the white deer is the Bull attacked by four dogs, which can also be compared with other compositions by the same artist, such as the Shepherd's Rest with herds formerly in the collection of Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg (1661-1747), offered at Christie's, London on 10th July 2002, lot 169.
We are thankful to Professor Francesco Solinas, whose essay on the series formed the primary source for the above entry.