Johann Heinrich Roos

1631 Reipoltskirchen – 1685 Frankfurt am Main

The Roos family had moved from the Palatinate to Amsterdam in 1640. In 1647, the young Johann Heinrich began an apprenticeship with the historical painter Guilliam Dujardin and was later trained by the landscape painter Cornelis de Bie and the animal and portrait painter Barent Graat. Some time around 1651/52 the young artist set off for Germany. There he worked mainly for noble and ecclesiastical clients in the Hesse province and married the pastor’s daughter, Anna Emmerich, in St. Goar in 1656 before moving on to Heidelberg, where he was appointed court painter in 1664. This position seems not to have lived up to his expectations, however, for in 1667 Roos settled with his family of four children in Frankfurt am Main, where he was to work with considerable success for almost twenty years.