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Rosa Bonheur Art

French, 1822-1899

Rosa Bonheur was among the most accomplished female painters of the 19th century, a time when women were typically not encouraged to pursue fine arts as a profession. Bonheur never married and lived openly as a lesbian. She is remembered for her realist animal paintings and highly detailed bronze animal sculptures.

Bonheur was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1822. Her mother died when she was just 11. Her father, a painter, believed in female education and supported her artistic pursuits. He oversaw Bonheur’s painting education after her unsuccessful apprenticeship as a seamstress.

Bonheur rose to prominence relatively early in her career. In 1848, the French government commissioned a piece for an exhibition at the Paris Salon. The resulting painting, Ploughing in the Nivernais, is today in the collections of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Around this time, she began a relationship with fellow artist Nathalie Micas. The pair remained together for the rest of Micas’s life.

Bonheur’s most famous painting, The Horse Fair, was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1853 and completed in 1855. It is a depiction of the horse market, where Bonheur went twice a week for a year and a half to work on her sketches. She applied for a police permit to wear men’s clothing for comfort and to dissuade attention. The painting, which measures eight feet across, is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

In 1855, Bonheur’s art dealer introduced her work to the United Kingdom, where her art proved even more popular than in her home country. Her financial success allowed her to move to a large property near Fontainebleau, France, in 1859, where she lived for the rest of her life. It has since been renamed Château de Rosa Bonheur and includes a museum dedicated to her work.

Bonheur was awarded the decoration of the French Legion of Honour in 1865 and was promoted to Officer of the Order in 1894, becoming the first female artist to receive the honor. In 1893, she exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Bonheur died in 1899 at the age of 77. She was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery next to Nathalie Micas.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Rosa Bonheur’s sculptures.

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Artist: Rosa Bonheur
Untitled (Sketches of Sheep)
By Rosa Bonheur
Located in Milwaukee, WI
This is an original oil painting on paper that was then mounted onto canvas. It was created by Rosa Bonheur and has the artist's stamp on the verso of the canvas, as well as the fram...
Category

1850s Realist Rosa Bonheur Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Laid Paper

Three Bucks in the Fontainebleu Forest
By Rosa Bonheur
Located in Miami, FL
Rosa Bonheur was the most famous female artist of the 19th Century. We are grateful to Annie-Paule Quinsac for confirming the authenticity of this painting. The work is best viewed with top gallery light to bring out colors ____________________________________________ Rosa Bonheur: Three Bucks in the Fontainebleau Forest, erroneously Stags or Monarchs in the forest Oil on canvas, 29 x 24 inches [74 x 61cm], signed and dated lower left, Rosa Bonheur 1886 The discovery of this painting, a reinterpretation of Bonheur’s most iconic work Le roi de la Foret, [Monarch in the forest]is a significant event in the artist’s scholarship. In forty years of study, I was not aware of its existence and did not find any reproduction of it throughout my extensive reading. Bought by the present owner at the Stamford Winter Auction in 2008, it had been the property of a certain Captain [ name illegible] until January 29, 1920, or from that date {?}. The label on the back of the canvas reads: “Collection of Captain J.H.Gaucis Jan.29,1920”. [the handwriting on the label is extremely unusual; my deciphering of it induces me to propose this last name, Latvian in origin] […] This work could not have been offered among the 95 paintings that compose the catalog section titled “Stags, Hinds, Roebucks,” [ NN.320-415] in the catalog of the Rosa Bonheur Posthumous Sale organized by the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris, which included over two thousand pieces kept in the studio and not sold during her life time : it does not correspond to any of the description or measurements given in these catalog entries. The number 5527inscribed in red on the back of the canvas could refer to the painting having be handled by the Knoedler Galerie, Paris and New York, which after Bonheur’s death, that of Ernest Gambart (1814-1902and George Petit, (1856-1920) was instrumental in the continued diffusion of her work in the US, maintaining her prices that had crashed elsewhere in Europe. Despite difficulties in tracing the provenance history, the attribution to Rosa Bonheur, cannot be denied. Stylistic and iconographic characters are typical of her expressive means in the late 80’s. Also, it cannot be questioned that the calligraphy of signature and date is hers. The work depicts three male deers- or bucks- of different age, in a trail, deep in the forest at twilight, just after sunset toward the end of Fall. The two big ones, have stopped in their track, facing the beholder frontally; the small one, in profile, seems ready to move in another direction. The umbrella term deer, or the more specific one buck {male deer} could both be used as title to this painting, rather than stag, which implies an old majestic senior male deer, considered the King of the forest also called Monarch. In the Cervidae family, the number of points of a deer’s antler is one of the indicators of age, along with body mass and overall size. In our painting, the most prominent stag is massive and has a twelve points antler – qualifying as Monarch. The one immediately behind him exhibits an eight points antler and appears strong and imposing as well does not possess but not his companion’s poise. It is a mature stag. The last one, slender, shoulders not quite muscular yet, with barely six points to his antler, could not be more than two years old. The intensity of expression of the two older stags and their presence in the landscape which is rendered as their stage, are characteristic of Bonheur’s rapport to animals and nature. The painting’s varnish has deteriorated and forms a film that will need to be removed through a cautious cleaning. It is particularly important that the transparent haze that evokes the humidity of the forest at that crucial moment of the light be preserved. It contributes to the painting vibrance. Since 1860, when Rosa Bonheur moved to the Chateau of By, which she had bought with her companion Nathalie Micas, the Fontainebleau Forest which was at a stone through of her property, became ground of studies and the Cervidae a common subject. By then, she would already sketch en plein air, and months or years later, create paintings from start to finish in the studio using the visual material collected while walking through nature or observing animal in their milieu. Her first image of the Great Monarch in the forest, represented frontally and in a similar forest background is the 1868 painting Le cerf de Saint Hubert [Hubertus’ Stag], an illustration of the legend of Saint Hubertus in which she included a cross between the stag’s antlers. As the story as it, Hubertus was a passionate hunter and would often forget his religious duties to go hunting. On a certain Sunday in the depth of a forest, where he had ventured alone, he began to pursue a stag The animal faced him and while a cross appeared between his antlers, the voice of God was heard, directing him to repent ad respect all animals. Rosa Bonheur was herself a hunter but also a spiritualist, influenced by the Saint Simonian creeds and by spiritism. She believed that certain animals had a soul. I personally think that magnificent monarchs and the St Hubertus...
Category

1880s Academic Rosa Bonheur Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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Rosa Bonheur art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Rosa Bonheur art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Rosa Bonheur in canvas, fabric, oil paint and more. Not every interior allows for large Rosa Bonheur art, so small editions measuring 14 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Charles Joshua Chaplin, William Edward Frost, and Emile Godchaux. Rosa Bonheur art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $52,200 and tops out at $700,000, while the average work can sell for $376,100.

Artists Similar to Rosa Bonheur

Questions About Rosa Bonheur Art
  • 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022
    Rosa Bonheur painted animals because she had a deep love for them. The French artist also produced realistic sculptures depicting various animals. Animals were a part of her daily life, as she had many pets, including lions, sheep, horses and gazelles. You'll find a range of Rosa Bonheur art on 1stDibs.

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