German painter, part of a family of painters. He learned to paint from his father, the landscape painter Johann Heinrich Roos. In 1682-1685 he studied at the drawing academy of the Confrerie Pictura in The Hague, then went to Italy, where he probably lived in the house of his brother Philipp Peter Roos (Rosa di Tivoli) in Tivoli near Rome. After his sojourn in Italy, where we know he spent the time between 1686 and 1690, the artist returned to Germany (Nuremberg, Heidelberg, Frankfurt) and also visited Switzerland. In 1695 he was active in Frankfurt. He became acquainted with the Prince Bishop of Bamberg, Lothar Franz von Schönborn, who was enthusiastically buying animal paintings for the newly-built Pommersfelden Castle. Roos was appointed court painter, but he was unreliable and lazy and disappointed his patron. The people in Frankfurt also knew all about the painter's easy-going life style and nicknamed him "Saturday Roos". They said that he only painted on Saturdays, when his wife needed money to go shopping. Johann Melchior Roos' style is basically much like that of his brother Philipp: both of them were animal painters, but the quality of Philipp's work was incomparably higher. It is still often very difficult to distinguish between the two brothers, since there are great similarities in technique and brushwork. Johann Melchior's works also reveal a knowledge of the animal painters of the 17th century Antwerp school, such as Frans Snyders, Paul de Vos, and others, from whom he obviously took some motifs and compositional solutions. His paintings were later imitated by the Neapolitan painter Domenico Brandi (1683-1736), who was also active in Rome. Even today Johann Melchior is known for Italianate landscapes with animals and portraits. //