Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899), French painter, born in Bordeaux, and trained in Paris under her father, Raymond Bonheur. Her first important painting, Ploughing in Nivernais (1848), was acquired by the French government for the collection of the Luxembourg Gallery, Paris. She established a reputation as one of the foremost animal painters of her day. Her best-known works are The Horse Fair (1853-1855) and Weaning the Calves (1887), both in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Bonheur ran her father's art school after he died in 1849. She was given governmental permission to cross-dress, and made animal studies in markets and fairs while dressed as a man. In 1894 she became the first woman to receive the Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honor.