Bonheur, Rosa

The most famous female artist of the 19thC, Rosa Bonheur, was born to a family of well-known artists in Bordeaux. Her most famous art was of country scenes but she did paint wildlife art as well as many paintings which include domestic animals (horses, sheep etc.) in rural scenes.

Due to her difficult in learning to read, her mother encouraged her to draw an animal for each letter of the alphabet, which was her initial step in wildlife art. After she had been expelled from many schools for being a disruptive influence her father took it upon himself to teach her art. She followed the standard method of learning art at the time, which involved copying existing artworks, and sketching from plaster models. She then graduated to drawing and painting animals around Paris where she lived at the time, as well as her own pets. She also studied anatomy by disecting animals at local abattoirs.

Her most famous work is the huge painting "Horse Fair", which was completed in 1855, and measured eight feet high by sixteen feet wide. Her painting of subjects such as Scottish highlanders as they had been one hundred years beforehand, appealed to Victorian views of life. Her work was duplicated using engraving by the top engravers of the time.

click here for the Wikipedia page on Bonheur (including two portraits of the artist).

More art by Bonheur

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