Horse and Goats Grazing

The shepherd is transporting a sheep over a ford in a basket borne on horseback. That scene is surrounded by resting herd. Roos first painted a horse with a bridle, muzzle and basket with a sheep on its back in his work entitled Resting Shepherd with a Horse and Sheep, created within a series of four paintings from the early 1690s, held in the Museo del Calstelvecchio in Verona. The 1690s are the earliest date possible for the Prague painting. A horse as the main theme of the painting first appeared in Roos’s works at the same time. The animal’s depiction had changed considerably. The horse is no longer grazing along with the other animals, but depicted as working, most frequently carrying a load. The quick temperamental brushwork certainly aided a higher demand for Roos’s works. However, the quickness and routine, with which the painter worked, also resulted in uneven quality of his paintings, which can be observed in the canvas from the National Gallery in Prague, initially from Thun collection in Děčín.