Rosa Bonheur, Animal Studies

 

"Studies of a Sheep" by Rosa Bonheur

"A Grazing Sheep" by Rosa Bonheur

"In 1841 Raymond Bonheur married again, and the family removed to a part of Paris which was then surrounded by the country. It was here that Rosa Bonheur began to study animal life with a minuteness extraordinary in so young a girl. 

For several months she lodged with a peasant near Neuilly for the sole purpose of studying animals, their habits, and their movements. She declared that every animal had an individual character. Before even beginning to work upon the study of a horse, a dog, or a sheep, she made herself familiar with the anatomy and osteology of each one, even going so far as dissection, which shows how deeply she had become engrossed by her art, and she advised all animal painters to follow her example. 

When she returned to her father's house she received his permission to keep a sheep upon a small terrace, and for two years it served her as a model both for painting and modelling. She used at this time to make models in clay of animals, in order to gain a mastery of every line and every muscle, so that when she painted she had actual knowledge of form besides her acute observation. These models, when finished, she used to draw by candle light, which she said threw the shadows into higher relief."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Rosa Bonheur" by Frank Hird.)