Rosa Bonheur, Final Honors and Passing

"Recumbent Stag" by Rosa Bonheur
Watercolour and Gouache over Graphite, 11" x 15"

"In the Salon of 1899, Rosa Bonheur's picture 'Cow and Bull of Auvergne' was hung in a place of honour, and but for the painter's own request that no vote should be given for her work, it would have been awarded a gold medal. The strength, the mastery of detail, the deep knowledge of animals, and the power of expressing her knowledge upon canvas that had characterized her work thirty years before, were still undiminished. 

Now no note of blame, no accusation of neglecting her own country for the sake of fulfilling foreign commissions, was heard. The critics and the public alike welcomed her return to the annual representative exhibition of French art. The artist's fame, her age, her long abstention from sending her work to the Salon, and the universal admiration of the press, all added to the public interest, and the picture was surrounded daily by admiring crowds.

At the height of this success Rosa Bonheur was struck down by congestion of the lungs, and scarcely had the news spread abroad that she was ill, than it was followed by the news that her illness had proved fatal. Her life as an artist ended as it had begun with the sign of her remarkable talents hanging in the Salon. She was buried in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise amidst signs of public respect such as are only accorded to those who have added laurels to the glory of their country."

The grave of Rosa Bonheur
Pere Lachaise Cemetery

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