Rosa Bonheur, Horse Fair

An approach to nature in which Realism and Romanticism are combined is found in the work of Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899). Her painting Horse Fair shows her close study of the anatomy and movement of horses galloping, rearing, and parading. Consistent with the Realist interest in scientific observation, Bonheur dissected animals from butcher shops and slaughterhouses; she also visited horse fairs such as this one and cattle markets. In addition to the Realist qualities of the Horse Fair, the thundering energy of the horses ad the efforts of their grooms to keep the animals under control have a Romantic character. Likewise, the turbulent sky echoes the dramatic (and Romantic) dynamism of the struggle between humanity and the untamed forces of nature.

Rosa Bonheur regularly exhibited in the Salons of the 1840s and achieved international renown as an animal painter. In 1894, she was named the first woman artists of the Legion of honor. Her father was a landscape painter and a Saint-Simon socialist who favored women’s right and believed in a future female Messiah. Bonheur made a point of imitating the dress and behavior of men and lived only with women. In order to wear men’s clothes in Paris – they were especially practical when she made sketches in slaughterhouses – she had to have a police permit, which was renewable every six months. The Horse Fair toured England and was privately exhibited in Windsor Castle at the behest of Queen Victoria. In 1887, Cornelius Vanderbilt donated it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When Buffalo Bill took his Wild West show to France, he brought Bonheur a gift of two mustangs from Wyoming.^[1]