Rosa Bonheur

French, 1822-1899

BiographyRosa Bonheur, born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur, 1822 – 1899, was a French animalière, realist artist, and sculptor. Bonheur is widely considered to have been the most famous female painter of the nineteenth century. Marie-Rosalie she was the oldest child in a family of artists. Although she was sent to school like her brothers, she was a disruptive force in the classroom and expelled from numerous schools. Finally, after trying to apprentice her to a seamstress, her father agreed to allow her education as a painter. She was twelve at that point and would have been too young to attend the École des Beaux-Arts even if they had accepted women. She also studied animal anatomy and osteology by visiting the abattoirs of Paris and by performing dissections of animals at the École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort, the National Veterinary Institute in Paris. There she prepared detailed studies which she would later use as references for her paintings and sculptures. During this period, too, she also met and became friends with anatomists and zoologists.

Bonheur was known for wearing men's clothing, her choice of companions and her penchant for smoking cigarettes On her wearing of trousers, she said at the time that her choice of attire was simply practical as it facilitated her work with animals: "I was forced to recognize that the clothing of my sex was a constant bother. That is why I decided to solicit the authorization to wear men's clothing from the prefect of police. But the suit I wear is my work attire, and nothing else.

Person TypeIndividual

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