Jan I Roos (Antwerp 1591-1638 Genoa)

A pupil of Frans Snyders, Roos left his native Antwerp for Italy in 1614. He settled first in Rome, where he acquired a reputation as an animal painter, and later in Genoa, where he met Van Dyck and became an associate of Sofonisba Anguissola. The present sheet is a fine example of his vigorous red-chalk compositions, often showing peasants and animals in country landscapes (for further information, see M. Newcome, Genoese Baroque Drawings, exhib. cat., Binghamton and Worcester, 1972, pp. 23-4, no. 56, illustrated).