Cajetan Roos, called Gaetano de Rosa

The canvas is less yellow and more green and blue in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The canvas has a stable relining. The paint surface is under a slightly dirty varnish and there's quite some surface dirt. The paint layer is secure, if a little thin in the brown tones in the background, but especially the impasto of the highlights is very nicely preserved. No damages are apparent. A few small retouchings can be observed in the sky. Inspection under UV light reveals recent small scattered retouchings, e.g. in the horse centre left, in the goat on the left, in the cow in the centre, in the ark and in the upper background. There are possibly some older retouchings underneath. Overall, especially for a canvas this size, in good condition. Offered in a plain wood frame with gold painted decorations, with a few chips.
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We are grateful to Dr. Herman Jedding for confirming the attribution to Cajetan Roos on the basis of a photograph. He dates this painting to circa 1735/40 at the latest. The signature and date are evidently later additions, since, from 1743 onwards, Roos moved away from animal scenes altogether and only painted altarpieces.

Cajetan Roos, called Gaetano de Rosa, was born into a German family of painters. He was apprenticed to his father Philipp Peter Roos (1657-1706), called Rosa da Tivoli, another celebrated animal painter who had settled in Rome, and like him specialised in animal subjects.¹ Noah's Ark was a favoured subject of the artist, for he painted the subject on more than one occasion. One of these, perhaps the earliest, is signed and dated 1718.² The present work may be closely compared to similar representation of the subject, attributed to Cajetan Roos, sold, Paris, Millon & Associés, 28 June 2006, lot 33 (for € 28.000).

1. See for example H. Jedding, Johann Heinrich Roos. Werke einer Pfälzer Tiermalerfamilie in den Galerie Europas, Mainz 1998, pp. 271-4, figs. 400-4.
2. U.-G. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma. Artisti stranieri 1630-1750, Viadana 2004, p. 283, fig. GR2.