Rosa Bonheur was a French painter during the mid to late 19th century and she was widely known for her animal paintings. Her father was an artist and she began to study with him at an early age.
An Artistic Life
Most of her life was spent painting her animal subjects and exhibiting her work. There were very few females among her contemporaries, but Bonheur had no trouble making a name for herself. In fact, she was a flamboyant liberal who wore her hair short, smoked cigars and dressed in mens clothing. Although horses aren’t her sole subject, she captures them with a clearly equestrian perspective.
A lifelong animal lover, Rosa always kept pets, ranging from horses to lions to otters.
Just Because
The last two aren’t horses, but I thought they were beautiful and worth sharing. It’s fun to feature a fearless female artist of her time period. Be sure to check out more horses of the (mostly male) artistic masters.
Rosa also painted one of the most famous paintings of William Cody, “Buffalo Bill” on his Arab horse. Might be nice to add this one to the group.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=230675482643
not sure if this will work, but if you google, rosa and bill it will come up somewhere.