Herde von Ziegen, Schafen, Kühen und Pferden in einer italienischen Berglandschaft mit Ruinen 

Johann Heinrich Roos created this drawing of goats, sheep, cows, and horses amidst an Italian mountain landscape with ruins. The inclusion of livestock alongside classical ruins speaks to a cultural memory deeply embedded in the European psyche. Consider the cow, standing prominently; throughout history, it has been venerated and sacrificed, appearing in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art as symbols of fertility and power. Even today, we find echoes of this reverence, though often obscured, in our modern agricultural practices. Roos uses the cow to represent abundance and pastoral harmony, set against a backdrop of decaying grandeur. Observe also how the ruins themselves—fragments of a once-great civilization—evoke a sense of nostalgia and reflection on the transience of human achievement. This interplay between the natural world and the remnants of human ambition invites us to contemplate the cyclical nature of history, where civilizations rise, fall, and leave behind fragmented legacies. The emotional power in such scenery stirs our collective subconscious, reminding us of humanity’s place in the grand tapestry of time.