Return from the Horse Fair
1873
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Rosa Bonheur
Rosa Bonheur was a French artist known best as a painter of animals (animalière).
See the richer artist page1873
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Return from the Horse Fair is a 1873 by Rosa Bonheur, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a long row of horses—some brown, some white—walking home after a fair, their muscles still tense under glossy coats. Bonheur spent months sketching at horse markets in men’s clothes because women weren’t allowed. She painted every vein and flick of an ear so you feel the dust and sweat. For more animal scenes that feel this alive, look up impasto.
Rosa Bonheur was the first woman artist to receive the Cross of the French Legion of Honor, a French civilian and military decoration. She achieved great official and commercial success, especially for her carefully finished and naturalistic paintings of animals. This watercolor displays Bonheur's technical mastery and her close study of anatomy, as well as her appreciation for the natural beauty of the horses. The animals are arranged in a shallow frieze across the long composition, and their manicured tails, along with the riders' costumes and the finely-wrought iron fence, identify them as…
This drawing is one of numerous sheets relating to a large-scale painting now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Rosa Bonheur was a French artist known best as a painter of animals (animalière).
See the richer artist page
