Bonheur, Marie Rosalie. 1822-99. Member of Antwerp Institute, 1868. Salon medals, 1845, 1848, 1855, 1867; Legion of Honor, 1865; Leopold Cross, 1880; Commander's Cross, Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic, 1880. Born in Bordeaux. She was taught drawing by her father, who, perceiving that she had unusual talent, permitted her to give up dressmaking, to which, much against her will, she had been apprenticed. From 1855 her fame was established; she was greatly appreciated, and her works competed for in England and the United States, as well as in European countries.
Her chief merit is the actual truthfulness with which she represented animals. Her skies might be bettered in some cases—the atmosphere of her pictures was sometimes open to question—but her animals were anatomically perfect and handled with such virility as few men have excelled or even equalled. Her position as an artist is so established that no quoted opinions are needed when speaking of her—she was one of the most famous women of her century.
Her home at By was near Fontainebleau, where she lived quietly, and for some years held gratuitous classes for drawing. She left, at her death, a collection of pictures, studies, etchings, etc., which were sold by auction in Paris soon after.
Her "Ploughing in the Nivernais," 1848, is in the Luxembourg Gallery; "The Horse Fair," 1853, is seen in the National Gallery, London, in a replica, the original being in the United States, purchased by the late A. T. Stewart. Her "Hay Harvest in the Auvergne," 1855, is one of her most important works. After 1867 Mlle. Bonheur did not exhibit at the Salon until 1899, a few weeks before her death.
One must pay a tribute to this artist as a good and generous woman. She founded the Free School of Design for Girls, and in 1849 took the direction of it and devoted much of her valuable time to its interests. How valuable an hour was to her we may understand when we remember that Hamerton says: "I have seen work of hers which, according to the price given, must have paid her a hundred pounds for each day's labor."
The story of her life is of great interest, and can be but slightly sketched here.
She was afoot betimes in the morning, and often walked ten or twelve miles and worked hard all day. The difficulty of reaching her models proved such a hindrance to her that she conceived the idea of visiting the abattoirs, where she could see animals living and dead and study their anatomy.
It is not easy to imagine all the difficulties she encountered in doing this—the many repulsive features of such places—while the company of drovers and butchers made one of the disagreeables of her pursuits. Her love for the animals, too, made it doubly hard for her to see them in the death agony and listen to their pitiful cries for freedom.
In all this experience, however, she met no rude or unkind treatment. Her drawings won the admiration of the men who watched her make them and they treated her with respect. She pursued her studies in the same manner in the stables of the Veterinary School at Alfort and in the Jardin des Plantes.
At other times she studied in the country the quiet grazing herds, and, though often mistaken for a boy on account of the dress she wore, she inspired only admiration for her simplicity and frankness of manner, while the graziers and horse-dealers respectfully regarded her and wondered at her skill in picturing their favorite animals. Some very amusing stories might be told of her comical embarrassments in her country rambles, when she was determined to preserve her disguise and the pretty girls were equally determined to make love to her!