Lying bear to the left 

Johann Melchior Roos created this drawing of a bear sometime between the late 17th and early 18th century. Roos came from a family of artists in Germany known for their depictions of animals. The art market was expanding at this time and Roos and others capitalized on a growing taste for animal painting amongst the middle classes. Note how the bear seems to pose for us, almost like a domestic pet. Drawings like this were often made as studies for larger paintings. The Städel Museum, where this drawing now resides, was itself founded in the early 19th century as a public collection. So in considering this work we can think about the changing place of animals in art, the shifting economic circumstances that made this possible, and the institutional structures that allow us to view it today. Understanding those contexts helps us understand the artwork better.