Rosa Bonheur (born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur; (1822 – 1899) was a French artist who achieved a successful career, served as a role model for future generations of women artists.
Born in Bordeaux, Bonheur moved to Paris with her family in 1829. She was trained by her father, a minor landscape painter. While unconventional in her ambitions and personal conduct, Bonheur was traditional in her working method. She studied her subjects carefully and produced many preparatory sketches before she applied paint to canvas.
Bonheur’s reputation grew steadily in the 1840s, and she regularly exhibited her animal paintings and sculptures at the Paris Salon, which favored traditional work, from 1841 to 1853. In 1845, Bonheur won a third prize, and in 1848, a gold medal.
Bonheur’s career was firmly established when she exhibited a painting at the 1849 Salon, Plowing in Nivernais (Musée Nationale du Château de Fontainebleau), which she had been commissioned to create by the government of the Second Republic. In 1853, she won international acclaim with her monumental painting The Horse Fair (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), which was exhibited in England and which Queen Victoria greatly admired. In 1865, the French Empress Eugénie visited Bonheur at her studio in the forest of Fontainebleau to award her the cross of the Legion of Honor.
© 2023. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Rosa Bonheur or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
 |
| Rosa Bonheur |
 |
| Portrait of Rosa Bonheur. Circa 1857 |
 |
| The Farm at the Entrance of the Wood. Circa 1846 |
 |
| Ploughing in the Nivernais. Circa 1849 |
 |
| Going to Market. Circa 1851 |
 |
| A Waggon and a Team of Horses. Circa 1852 |
 |
| The Horse Fair. Circa 1852-55 |
 |
| Ploughing Scene. Circa 1854 |
 |
| Haymaking in the Auvergne. Circa 1855 |
 |
| Sheep in a landscape. Circa 1855 |
 |
| A Limier Briquet Hound. Circa 1856 |
 |
| Landscape with Cattle. Circa 1856 |
 |
| Sheep in the Highlands. Circa 1857 |
 |
| Barbaro after the Hunt. Circa 1858 |
 |
| Roe Deer. Circa 1860 |
 |
| The Highland Raid. Circa 1860 |
 |
| Changing Pastures. Circa 1863 |
 |
| Sheep by the Sea. Circa 1865 |
 |
| Deer in Repose. Circa 1867 |
 |
| The Wounded Eagle. Circa 1870 |
 |
| Two Goats. Circa 1870 |
 |
| Spanish muleteers crossing the Pyrenees. Circa 1875 |
 |
The Pyrenees. Circa 1875
|
 |
| Noonday Rest. Circa 1877 |
 |
| Barbouyo. Circa 1879 |
 |
| Weaning the Calves. Circa 1879 |
 |
The Lion at Home. Circa 1881
|
 |
| Cattle at Rest on a Hillside in the Alps. Circa 1885 |
 |
| Landscape with Deer. Circa 1887 |
 |
| Relay Hunting. Circa 1887 |
 |
| Shepherd of the Pyrenees. Circa 1888 |
 |
| Col. William F. Cody. Circa 1889 |
 |
| A Stag. Circa 1893 |
