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Early success
[edit]Bonheur's first major success can be attributed to The Horse Fair, which was first displayed at the Paris Salon in 1853. The painting was started in 1851 and completed in 1855.[1] It measures eight by sixteen feet (2.4 by 4.9 m)[2] and depicts the horse market held in Paris, on the tree-lined boulevard de l'Hôpital, near the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, which is visible in the painting's background. There is a reduced version that can be found in the National Gallery located in London.[3] Bonheur had been displaying her work at the Paris Salon for several years before displaying The Horse Fair, earning medals and smaller praise.[1] This even resulted in the commissioning of Ploughing in the Nivernais from the state, which was exhibited in 1849 and is now on display in the Musée d'Orsay located in Paris.[4] Due to The Horse Fair sparking debate and controversy among critics and collectors when it was first displayed at the Paris Salon, it allowed Bonheur to create a public image and insert herself into the international art world. One such debate was that Comte de Nieuwerkerke (1811 - 1892) implied that Bonheur had been commissioned by the state to create the work, though there is no known documentation to back said implication, and Bonheur herself went through the effort of discrediting it. In 1856, Bonheur traveled to England and Scotland, where she met Queen Victoria, who admired Bonheur's work.[1]
Patronage and the market for her work
[edit]Bonheur was represented by the art dealer Ernest Gambart (1814–1902). It's unknown when the two of them first met, but by 1854, the two were on close terms. Gambart served as a friend, sponsor, and promoter for Bonheur's work and went to great lengths to ensure her work would be pushed to wider audiences.[5] By 1855, Gambart had bought The Horse Fair for forty thousand francs so that he could display the painting in an exhibition of French art located in England.[6][7] Through this exhibition, Bonheur's work was recognized by several English critics, such as William Rossetti, who commented on it positively. Regardless of the positive attention that Bonheur's work gained, she still received backlash for the fact that she was a woman artist. But through The Horse Fair being displayed in England, even at one point being moved to Buckingham Palace for a brief time to be studied by Queen Victoria, it erased all doubts that Bonheur's work was made by herself and paved the way for her success.[5]
- ^ a b c Bonheur, Rosa, et al., editors. Rosa Bonheur - All Nature’s Children: Musée Des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, 24 May - 29 August 1997; Musée de l’Ecole de Barbizon-Auberge Ganne, Barbizon, 19 September - 18 November 1997; Dahesh Museum, New York, 17 December 1997 - 21 February 1998. New York, 1998.
- ^ "The Horse Fair at Albright Knox Gallery". Archived from the original on 25 June 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2018., sketch for the London version; the sketch for the New York version is in the Ludwig Nissen Foundation, see: C. Steckner, in: Bilder aus der Neuen und Alten Welt. Die Sammlung des Diamantenhändlers Ludwig Nissen, 1993, p. 142 and spaeth.net Archived 10 October 2004 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Horse Fair, National Gallery
- ^ "Rosa Bonheur: Labourage nivernais". Musée d'Orsay. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
- ^ a b Bonheur, Rosa, et al., editors. Rosa Bonheur - All Nature’s Children: Musée Des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, 24 May - 29 August 1997; Musée de l’Ecole de Barbizon-Auberge Ganne, Barbizon, 19 September - 18 November 1997; Dahesh Museum, New York, 17 December 1997 - 21 February 1998. New York, 1998.
- ^ Christiane, Weidemann (2008). 50 women artists you should know. Larass, Petra., Klier, Melanie, 1970-. Munich: Prestel. ISBN 9783791339566. OCLC 195744889.
- ^ "Ernest Gambart". goodallartists.ca.