A Horse, Buffalo, Sheep, and Goat in an Italian Landscape

Art Historical Context

Welcome to the National Gallery of, where we encounter *A Horse, Buffalo,, and Goat in an Landscape*, a captivating 18th-century print created by Johann Elias Ridinger after the Baroque master Johann Heinrich Roos. Dating between 1726 and 1750, this and engraving on laid paper (trimmed to 25.4 x 29.8 cm) depicts a harmonious pastoral scene: noble animals grazing amid the sunlit hills and ruins of an idealized Italian countryside. Roos, renowned for his lively animal studies and luminous landscapes inspired by his time in Italy, provided the original composition, which Ridinger faithfully reproduced with exquisite detail. Ridinger, a leading German printmaker celebrated for his animal etchings, masterfully combined etching's fluid, painterly strokes with engraving's precise lines to capture the textures of fur, foliage, and stone. This mixed technique on laid paper—a traditional support prized for its subtle texture—made such prints affordable yet luxurious, popular among collectors for adorning studies and cabinets of curiosities during the Enlightenment era. Generously gifted by Mrs. Robert A. Hauslohner to the museum's CG-E department, this work highlights the era's fascination with nature's grandeur and the artistry of reproductive printmaking, bridging Roos's 17th-century Baroque vitality with Ridinger's Rococo finesse. A delightful window into 18th-century European taste!