Bronze sculpture with brown patina, depicting a "reclining sheep", Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899).
Rosa Bonheur is recognized for her ability to represent animals from an anatomical and psychological point of view.
Her view of the world around her demonstrates a truly exceptional vision of flora and fauna, both domestic and wild. Rosa Bonheur is characterized by "A powerful and innovative work".
With her own animal studies, she is interested in the psychology of living beings, which she does not seek to hierarchize. In this, she is a precursor of animal studies.
His sculptures, like his paintings, will enjoy great success due to their very realistic character.
Sculpture signed “ROSA.B” in relief, on the oval naturalistic terrace.
Old edition sculpture, second part of the period XIXth century.
Perfect state of conservation and patina.

Dimensions: 10.5 cm x 21 cm x 11 cm

Painter and sculptor, considered an icon of women's emancipation, Rosa Bonheur placed the living world at the heart of her work and her existence and was committed to the recognition of animals in their singularity, expressing in her work their vitality and their "soul".

Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899)

Marie-Rosalie Bonheur, known as "Rosa Bonheur", was born on March 16, 1822 in Bordeaux.

Coming from a family of artists, she trained in art in the studio of her father Raymond Bonheur (1796-1849), a painter and drawing teacher, who would be her one and only teacher.
He encouraged his children to pursue an artistic path: Rosa, Auguste and Juliette would become painters, while their brother Isidore would turn to sculpture.
During her education, her father introduced her to "Félicité de La Mennais", who claimed that animals had a soul, which she remained convinced of all her life, as well as the "country" novels of George Sand.
Animals then became his specialty in both painting and sculpture.

Rosa Bonheur exhibited in Paris for the first time at the age of 19, at the Salon of 1841.
She obtained a 3rd class medal (bronze) at the Salon of 1845 and a 1st class medal (gold) at the Salon of 1848, for "Oxen and Bulls", "Cantal Breed".
This award enabled him to obtain a commission from the State to create, in 1849, "Le Labourage nivernais", which is now part of the permanent collections of the Musée d'Orsay.
Upon her father's death in March 1849, Rosa Bonheur replaced him as director of the Imperial Free School of Drawing for Young Ladies.
She held this position until 1860. "Follow my advice and I will make you into Leonardo da Vincis in skirts," she often told her students.

The way she looks at the nature around her demonstrates an exceptional vision of both flora and fauna.
Placing animals at the heart of her artistic creation in spectacular compositions or isolating them in true portraits, Rosa Bonheur was able to create an expressive body of work, devoid of sentimentality and of extraordinary realism, nourished by scientific discoveries and the new attention paid to animal species.

With a very large painting "The Horse Market" (2,44 m × 5 m) presented at the Salon of 1853, Rosa Bonheur obtained great renown.
In the summer of 1855, she went to England and Scotland to present "The Horse Fair" where she became friends with the London dealer of Belgian origin Ernest Gambart (1814-1902), who became her sole agent in Great Britain, and who bought the painting for forty thousand francs.
The painting then went to the United States. After passing through the hands of the wealthy Vanderbilt family, it was finally donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it remains today.
Between 1856 and 1867, Rosa no longer exhibited at the Salon, as all her production was sold in advance.
Celebrated during her lifetime on both sides of the Atlantic, this fascinating personality established herself as both a free woman and an officially recognized artist in a very constrained century.

Rosa Bonheur was the first female artist to receive the Legion of Honour, which was presented to her by Empress Eugénie, who declared: "At last, you are a knight. I am overjoyed to be the godmother of the first female artist to receive this high distinction. I wanted the last act of my regency to be devoted to showing that, in my eyes, genius has no gender."

Rosa Bonheur was able to partner with the most prominent dealers and collectors to dominate the art market and achieve her financial and moral independence.
Rosa Bonheur was quickly seen as a role model in the quest for independence for women and artists.
Rosa Bonheur's art and personality resonate with many societal issues that are more relevant than ever: the place of women in art and society, the animal cause and its place in rural life and ecology.

Although Rosa Bonheur's lesbianism, mentioned by several authors and refuted by others, is not proven, she did write this in her will: "Having had neither children nor tenderness for the stronger sex, except for a frank friendship for those who had all my esteem."
She lived in a true companionship with two women, the first "Nathalie Micas", also a painter and a keen mechanic (she invented a railway braking process for which she filed a patent), died in 1889, after more than 50 years of living together.
The second is the American "Anna Klumpke", also a talented painter, whom she had met in the autumn of 1889, after the death of Nathalie Micas, and whom she saw again several times between 1895 and 1898.
Having come to By in June 1898 to paint Rosa Bonheur's portrait, the latter asked her to live with her and help her write her memoirs.
Rosa Bonheur then designated her as her heir and universal legatee, just as she had done previously for Nathalie Micas.

Rosa Bonheur died on May 25, 1899 at the Château de By. She was buried in Paris at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery, in the plot bequeathed to her by the Micas family. She rests there alongside Nathalie Micas, the latter's parents, and Anna Klumpke.
The Society of French Artists posthumously awarded him the Medal of Honour.