LESSON XI

ROSA BONHEUR

Rosa Bonheur was born at Bordeaux, France, the daughter of a painter.
Her father was her first teacher in art.

At an early age, when most children draw in an aimless way, her father
guided his little girl's efforts with his own experienced hand. He
taught her to study and sketch from nature instead of relying on copies.

As a child she cared nothing for dolls and toys, but loved animals
dearly. Is it any wonder, then, that she took them for her subject
when she began to paint?

In her childhood she had two dogs and a goat for pets, and later on
kept a sheep in her Parisian apartment. Still later, when she had
become a distinguished woman, her studio included a farmyard.

Her animal paintings are so real and life-like that a study of the
faces of all the horses in that wonderful picture, "The Horse Fair,"
will reveal distinctly different expressions in each face.

Although most simple in her personal habits and in her life, Rosa
Bonheur was the greatest woman artist that ever lived.

"The Horse Fair," Rosa Bonheur's most famous painting, was bought by an