BONHEUR, MARIE ROSALIE (RosA) (1822 99). A French artist, considered the most emi nent woman painter of animals. She was born at Bordeaux, October 22, 1822, the eldest of four children. her father, Raymond Bonheur, who was a drawing-teacher, gave her careful training, and she also studied under Cogniet ; hut it was mainly her own study of animals in their natural environments that developed her genius. The family moved to Paris when Rosa Bonheur was eleven years old, and here she copied industri ously in the Louvre and the Luxembourg, and also studied from nature. The studio in the Rue Rum ford, where the family lived, has been described as a kind of Noah's Ark. At the age of nineteen Mademoiselle Bonhenr first exhibited at the Salon a picture of "Rabbits Eating Carrots." There after. until 1855, she was represented annually in the Exhibition. In 1815 she received a gold medal of the third class, and in 1848 a first-class medal. IIer first great picture, deemed by sonic her hest, "Ploughing in the Nivernais." was exhibited in 1849. and is now in the Louvre. Meanwhile the studio in the Rile Rumford had been given up, and the artist was studying at abattoirs on the outskirts of Paris. Finding the attentions of the workmen disagreeable, she adopted trousers, and, as she had short hair, she easily passed for a man. In 1849, on the death of her brother Raymond, she assumed charge of a school of drawing for young ladies, which he had been directing. In 1853 she exhibited the famous "Horse Fair." This picture attracted wide spread admiration. She offered it to her native town of Bordeaux for 12,000 francs, but the offer was not accepted, so she sold it in England for 40.000 francs, and it was exhibited there and afterwards in America. It was finally purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for $55, 500. The artist made a replica, a quarter size
of the original, from which the engravings of the picture were taken. This replica is in the National Gallery in London: there is also a smaller replica in London and a water-color.
Rosa Bonheur bought a Gothic château at By, near Fontainebleau. and in 1850 went there to live. Here, in 1864, Napoleon III. and the Em press Eugenie visited her studio. The year fol lowing. she received the cross of the Legion of Honor by order of the Empress. A visit to Scot land was the occasion of a number of Scotch sub jects, such as "Ponies of the Isle of Skye" and "Sheep in a Boat" (1867). During the latter part of her life she lived quietly at By. She died May 25, 1899. As a painter she showed a sound and wholesome feeling for nature, not only in the modeling of her animals and in her spirited rep resentations of action, but also in the truthful landscape setting in which she placed her sub jects. Her drawing and composition are good; but the color is almost hard, and the atmosphere is often imperfectly rendered. Among her best known paintings are: "The Haymaking Season in Auvergne" (1855, Louvre) : "On the Alert ;" "A Foraging Party:" and "A Combat Between Two Stallions." In the Metropolitan :Museum of Art. New York, are her "Deer in the Forest," "A Limier-Briquet Hound" (1877). and "Wean ing the Calves" (1879). and in the Lenox Library, New York, is her "Deer Drinking." For her life and works, consult Laruelle (Paris, 1885) ; Rene Menard, in The Portfolio (London, 18751; Rene Peyrol, in the Art Annual (ib., 1900) ; Roger Miles (Paris, 1900).