Rosa Bonheur's early years

Marie Rosalie Bonheur, Rosa's mother, was a middle-class piano instructor who died when she was only eleven years old. Rosa was born on March 16, 1822, in Bordeaux, Gironde, to Raymond Bonheur, a modest landscape painter who served as her mentor. Saint Simonianism, which promoted the education of both men and women, was the way of life that Raymond Bonheur and his family followed (Anon). Her siblings were creative as well. Isidore Jules Bonheur created animal sculptures, while Auguste and Juliette Bonheur painted animals. Hereditary genius has frequently been compared to the Bonheur family because of the creative traits found in the clan. Her father’s association with saint Simonianism contributed to Rosa’s liberal ways which included dressing as a man, cutting her hair and smoking cigarettes and cigars.

In 1828, Raymond Bonheur left his family and went to live with other Saint Simeon followers in isolation, as (Peare) explains. After her mother’s demise, Rosa was conscious of her mother’s suffering, and the price she had to pay for marrying a man whose ideals were more important than his family. Rosa also understood that her mother’s marriage caused more harm than good, leading to increased poverty, according to (Klumpke) in Bonheur’s biography. Her father then enrolled her in a trade school that taught women marketable skills like sewing. Bonheur was however very rebellious and was expelled shortly after. She was again taken to a boarding but was still unwilling to cooperate with the school’s regulations and was sent back home.

Artistic training

At thirteen years after Rosa was expelled from school, her father decided to teach her in his studio where she proved herself a success. She started by copying drawings from other painters, sketching plaster models, and studying landscapes and animals like cows, goats, rabbits, sheep, and horses. At fourteen, she started copying paintings at the louvre. She copied several painters like Paulus Potter, Louis Leopold Robert, Salvatore Rosa, Frans Pourbus the Younger and Karel Dujardin. However, her best painters included Nicholas Poussin and Peter Paul Rubens. As she progressed, she started learning the anatomy of animals and osteology as explained by (Peare). She dissected animals in local slaughterhouses and visited the horse market twice a week for direct observation, gaining more knowledge and shaping her realist style of work. Since it was considered improper for women to visit the horse market, she disguised herself in different men’s clothing. Bonheur made notes which she used as a reference for her paintings. During this period, she made friends with Etienne Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire and Isidore Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire who were father and son, comparative anatomist and zoologist respectively. She also sold her paintings to other older art students. In addition to painting, Rosa also excelled at creating small bronzes of animals.

Bonheur later got a written approval from the French government to dress in men’s clothing which was made up of a loose blouse and heavy boots for protecting her feet from the harsh environmental conditions where she worked (Klumpke). She, however, always wore dresses to social functions. Bonheur made many sketching trips to different regions like Auvergne, the Pyrenees, London Birmingham, and Scotland. She accompanied her father when he went to paint a commissioned portrait of Nathalie Micas, a wealthy young woman, and they became close friends during the portrait sittings. This acquaintance would later last throughout their lives. Bonheur’s realist approach is shown in her 1840 works, Rabbits nibbling carrots, where she used hundreds of fine lines to depict the softness of the rabbits’ fur. She also used different shades of brown, grey and white to bring out the softness.

Artworks and Exhibitions

At about the age of nineteen, Bonheur’s work was good enough for a public showing. She submitted some of her paintings and other small sculptures to the prestigious Paris Salon art show in 1841. She displayed two paintings, Goats and sheep, and Rabbits Nibbling carrots. Her work was met with both criticism and approval. Her animal paintings later became very popular due to their many realistic details (Peare), and by the age of twenty-three, eighteen of her works had been viewed at the Paris Salon. She also submitted some sculptures at the Salon but later abandoned it because she did not want to outshine her brother Isidore. Shortly after, her family moved to a new apartment where she was able to keep some animals which included rabbits, quail, ducks, squirrels, and sheep. This small zoo offered Rosa with representations for further artwork, improving her skill (Klumpke). She continued taking part in the annual Paris Salon throughout the 40’s until 1853 when she was thirty-one.

1n 1848, at twenty-six, Rosa was awarded the Salon’s gold medal. In addition, the French government contracted her to work on Plowing on the Nivernais in 1849 which was her first great success. The painting, also known as Oxen ploughing in Nevers, portrays two oxen teams, ploughing land, showing deep commitment. Her father then died in 1849, and together with her partner Nathalie Micas, she started her studio. In 1855, The Horse Fair, her most celebrated work was completed, after working on it for more than a year. This painting portrays the horse market held in Paris, and the tree-lined boulevard can be seen in the background as depicted by (Beaupré). In this market, Bonheur sketched twice a week for a year and a half. This painting is considered her masterpiece and one of her most widely produced works and was a sensation to the salon. She described it as her own Parthenon Frieze. (Klumpke) explains that it measured eight feet by sixteen feet and got her international recognition. No animal painter had ever painted such a vast sized painting. Queen Victoria also admired Bonheur’s work and invited Bonheur to Scotland for a private viewing of the original Horse Fair at Windsor castle. In 1853, the horse fair was viewed in Ghent and again in Bordeaux in 1853. While in Bordeaux, the city refused to buy the Horse Fair at FF 15,000 but it was purchased by art dealer Earnest Gambart for FF40,000, and Bonheur added finishing touches in 1855. In 1857, the painting was later acquired by William Parkinson Wright, a cotton trader, at FF 30,000, and in 1866, he sold it to Alexander Turney Stewart for FF 30,000 (Kuiper). When Alexander Stewart and his wife passed away, the painting was auctioned in 1887 and at $53,000, was acquired by Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Cornelius donated it to the Metropolitan Museum in New York where it resides to date.

Other artistic works

While in Scotland, Rosa finished sketches for other works like Highland shepherd, and A Scottish Raid in 1859 and 1860 respectively. These two paintings depicted the old way of life in the Scottish Highlands. Other works included Arab and Dead Horse in 1852, Barbouyo in 1879, Lion Rest in 1880, Cattle at Rest on a Hillside in 1885, The Charcoal Burner, A Grey Horse in a field, Haymaking in the Auvergne, King of the forest, King of the Herd, The Return from the Harvest, and The Wounded Eagle (Esaak), to name but a few. She continued to paint till her death at the age of 78.

Rosa greatly influenced animal art in the nineteenth century, despite animal painting being a man's domain. Ann klumpke even had a doll in the likeness of Bonheur. Many engravings of her work were made by Gambart and mostly sold outside of France in the United States, Europe and England. In the last part of her life, Rosa painted a portrait of Colonel William F. Cody straddling his horse after watching his wild West show and making several sketches. Anna Klumpke, a portrait painter, agreed to paint portraits of Bonheur and to write her biography. By the time of Bonheur’s death in 1899, Ann had painted three complete portraits (Klumpke). She did a final portrait in 1902 and published the biography in 1908. Klumpke also found eight hundred and ninety-two paintings in Bonheur’s studio after her death and sold them for around two million dollars, which was a lot of money at the time.

Rosa Bonheur, in more than one way, was a representation of the modern woman’s role in the society, despite her work being described as less modern. She stressed the need for women empowerment and getting into professions that were male-dominated. She will, however, be mostly remembered for her free spirit and attitude.

















Works Cited

Anon. Rosa Bonheur - Influential Women in History. Mysore Press, 2011.

Beaupré, Norman. The Day the Horses Went to the Fair: Animal Lover and Painter: Rosa Bonheur. Litfire Publishing, LLC, 2017.

Esaak, Shelley. Thought.Co. 23 February 2016. 27 November 2017.

Klumpke, Anna. Rosa Bonheur: The Artist's (auto)biography. University of Michigan Press, 1997.

Kuiper, Kathleen. ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. 20 July 1998. 26 November 2017.

Peare, Catherine Owens. Rosa Bonheur: Her Life. Holt, 1956.