Rosa Bonheur

As a child, Rosa Bonheur sketched animals in the wild. En 1853, she achieved international acclaim with her 96" x 199" painting, The Horse Fair, now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The energy and power of the draftsmanship of her horses reflect the great influence of Theodore Gericault, whose study of horses was in her studio at the time. Bonheur was also familiar with engravings, such as George Stubbs' 1794 Godolphin Arabian and George Catlin's native American subjects.

Direct observation from nature was favored by artists in the 1830s and 1840s; it remained a principle to which Bonheur adhered throughout her life. She knew and influenced many American artists who studied in Paris in the late nineteenth century and was herself a frequent visitor to the American spectacle of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show when it came to Paris.

At her chateau, now the Rosa Bonheur Museum, she received a notable honor presented by Empress Eugenie in June 1865—the Cross of the French Legion of Honor. She was so popular in the 19th century that "Rosa" dolls were made in her image. Near the end of her life she speculated that "her critics could forgive her everything but being a woman."

Text courtesy of Beverly and Stuart Denenberg.

When Rosa was 37 years of age she commented:

Art is absorbent-a tyrant. It demands heart, brain, soul, body, the entireness of its rotary. Nothing less will win its hightest favor. I wed art. It is my husband—my world—my life dream—the air I breathe. I know nothing else. My soul finds in it the most complete satisfaction. I married art…what could I do with any other Husband?

Shriver, Rosalia,Rosa Bonheur:With a Checklist of Works in American Collections.Philadelphia: The Art Alliance Press, 1982, P. 15.