Rosa Bonheur was a French painter,
born in 1822 in Bordeaux, who is considered the most famous woman animal
painter in history. Her most famous painting, The Horse Fair, displays the subject of the horse market held in Paris. The painting is
quite large and shows the wild, untamed horses and the men who are trying to
control them. Bonheur’s interest in painting animals goes back to her childhood
when her mother, teaching her to read, had her draw animals representing the
letters of the alphabet. Her mother
died when she was eleven and she was raised by her father, a
painter, involved with the Saint-Simonians who “advocated a form of socialism
which expressed a desire for the equality of women and men and abolishment of
class distinctions.” (www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/realism/Rosa-Bonheur.html) Because of her
father’s beliefs and desire for his daughter to have an education, Bonheur
began her education at an all-boys school, where she was considered “unruly”.
Later, because women were not allowed into the formal art schools, Bonheur
apprenticed with her father, who continued her artistic education by
encouraging her to copy paintings by masters at the Louvre and paint directly
from nature. Her siblings, as well, were known as animal painters, no doubt
because the influence of their father, his encouragement and the idea that he passed down
to them that “every living creature has a soul.” Bonheur herself possessed a deep love and respect for animals and continued to study, paint and
even surround herself with them later in life.