Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899) was one of the most outstanding French painters of the 19th century, renowned for her precise and vivid animal paintings. Born into an artistic family in Bordeaux, she was inspired by her father from a young age, developing a delicate and profound observation of nature and life, which she transformed into powerful and spiritual works of art depicting animals such as cows, horses, and sheep. Her representative works include *Ploughing in the Nivernais* and the magnificent *The Horse Fair*, the latter now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Bonheur participated extensively in the Paris Salon, where her realist style was highly praised, earning her the French Legion of Honour and making her one of the very few female artists of her time to achieve international acclaim. Her creative career not only transcended gender boundaries but also paved new paths for subsequent female artists.