Bonheur

Bonheur, Rosa, French female painter, born at Bordeaux in 1822. She lost her mother when she was seven, and a reverse of fortune made it necessary for her father to separate from his children, and rely on his brush for his and their support. Rosa's extraordinary talent had already shown itself, and its increase made her father resolve to teach her himself. She is said to have studied in the Paris slaughter-houses, and, to avoid notice, to have adopted male costume for her visits. In 1840 - her eighteenth year - she was for the first time able to exhibit, showing The Two Rabbits. In 1845 she received a third-class medal, and in 1848 a first class. But the French complain that the English carried off all her pictures, and that she exhibited very rarely at the Salon. The best known of her works are probably the Horse Fair - now in America - and the Hay Harvest in Auvergne. Through the exertions of the Empress Eugenie, Rosa Bonheur received the Cross of the Legion of Honour.