Rosa Bonheur- French Realist Painter

Rosa Bonheur was born as Marie-Rosalie Bonheur on March 16, 1822 to a family of renown artists. Her father strongly believed in the education of women. She was born in Bordeaux and the family moved to Paris in 1828. She supposedly had difficulty learning to read, so her mother had her draw an animal for each letter of the alphabet. Thus, she came to love drawing animals. She was sent to school, but was expelled from several of them. After that, she apprenticed to a seamstress. That didn't work out either, and eventually her father took on the task of teaching her art, since the art schools of the day did not accept women.

Rosa Bonheur received a government commission which led to her first real success, Ploughing in the Nivernais, which was exhibited in 1849. Her most famous work was the Horse Fair (pictured with this article)which was completed in 1855. This led to international fame and a trip to Scotland, during which she met Queen Victoria and the Queen admired her work. This led to paintings of a Scotland that had disappeared a century before. These were very popular with the Victorians. She was more popular in England than in her native France. She was represented mostly by private galleries, especially that of Ernest Gambart. He purchased the reproduction rights to her work and sold engraved copies of her paintings through his gallery in London's Pall Mall.

She is more famous these days for wearing pants and living with women than for her paintings. The wearing of pants, she said, was a necessity brought on by working with animals. Animals remained principal to her work throughout her career. But, of course, the popular word on the street attributed other reasons for her odd attire which she always denied and laughed at. She died at the age of 77 on May 25, 1899. Many of her paintings that had not been shown in public before were sold at auction in Paris in 1900.

Rosa Bonheur should be considered during Women's History Month because her paintings have been overshadowed by a lifestyle that was mistaken because of the times. Her art itself should be given prominence again. They are in the Realist style, usually colorful, and fun to consider. This artist should finally be remembered for her work above all.