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diff --git a/41939-0.txt b/41939-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..085cd6b --- /dev/null +++ b/41939-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1162 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41939 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 41939-h.htm or 41939-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41939/41939-h/41939-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41939/41939-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/rosabonheur00cras + + + + + +Masterpieces in Colour +Edited by M. Henry Roujon + +ROSA BONHEUR +(1822-1899) + + * * * * * + + _IN THE SAME SERIES_ + + + REYNOLDS + VELASQUEZ + GREUZE + TURNER + BOTTICELLI + ROMNEY + REMBRANDT + BELLINI + FRA ANGELICO + ROSSETTI + RAPHAEL + LEIGHTON + HOLMAN HUNT + TITIAN + MILLAIS + LUINI + FRANZ HALS + CARLO DOLCI + GAINSBOROUGH + TINTORETTO + VAN DYCK + DA VINCI + WHISTLER + RUBENS + BOUCHER + HOLBEIN + BURNE-JONES + LE BRUN + CHARDIN + MILLET + RAEBURN + SARGENT + CONSTABLE + MEMLING + FRAGONARD + DÜRER + LAWRENCE + HOGARTH + WATTEAU + MURILLO + WATTS + INGRES + COROT + DELACROIX + FRA LIPPO LIPPI + PUVIS DE CHAVANNES + MEISSONIER + GÉRÔME + VERONESE + VAN EYCK + FROMENTIN + MANTEGNA + PERUGINO + HENNER + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: PLATE I.--THE LION MEDITATING + + (Rosa Bonheur Museum) + + According to artists, the lion is the most difficult of all + animals to paint, on account of the prodigious mobility of his + physiognomy. Rosa Bonheur was able, thanks to her inimitable + art, to catch and reproduce the fugitive facial expressions of + the kingly beast,--expressions that the artist succeeded in + securing during a visit to a certain menagerie, and which she + managed to record with a most surprising vigour and fidelity.] + + +ROSA BONHEUR + +by + +FR. CRASTRE + +Translated from the French by Frederic Taber Cooper + +Illustrated with Eight Reproductions in Colour + + + + + + + +Frederick A. Stokes Company +New York--Publishers + +Copyright, 1913, by +Frederick A. Stokes Company + +[Illustration: August, 1913] + +The·Plimpton·Press +Norwood·Mass·U·S·A + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Page + + Childhood and Youth 11 + + The First Successes 22 + + The Years of Glory 45 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Plate + + I. The Lion Meditating Frontispiece + Rosa Bonheur Museum + + II. The Ass 14 + Rosa Bonheur Studio, at By + + III. The Horse Fair 24 + National Gallery, London + + IV. Ploughing in the Nivernais 34 + Luxembourg Museum, Paris + + V. Ossian's Dream 40 + Rosa Bonheur Studio, Peyrol Collection + + VI. The Duel 50 + Collection of Messrs. Lefèvre, London + + VII. Tigers 60 + Rosa Bonheur Studio, at By + + VIII. Trampling the Grain 70 + Rosa Bonheur Studio, at By + + + + +CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH + + +In 1821, a young painter of brilliant promise was living in Bordeaux. +His name was Raymond Bonheur. But the fairies who presided at his +birth omitted to endow him with riches, in addition to talent. The +hardships of existence compelled him to relinquish his dreams of glory +and to pursue the irksome task of earning his daily bread. The artist +became a drawing master and went the rounds of private lessons. Among +his pupils he made the acquaintance of a young girl, Mlle. Sophie +Marquis, as penniless as himself, but attractive and gentle, full of +courage, and displaying exceptional ability in music. A similarity of +tastes and opinions drew these two artistic natures toward each other. +They fell in love, and the marriage service united their destinies. + +The young couple started upon married life with no other fortune than +their mutual attachment and equal courage. He continued to teach +drawing and she gave lessons in music. But before long she was forced +to put an end to these lessons in order to devote herself to new +duties. Indeed, it was less than a year after their marriage, namely +on the 16th of March, 1822, that a little girl was born into the +world: this little girl was Rosalie Bonheur, better known under the +name of Rosa Bonheur. + +It is not surprising in such an artistic environment, that the child's +taste should have undergone a sort of obscure, yet undoubted +impregnation. From the time that she began to understand, she heard +art and nothing else discussed around her; her first uncertain steps +were taken in her father's studio, and her first playthings were a +brush and a palette laden with colours. + + [Illustration: PLATE II.--THE ASS + + (Rosa Bonheur Studio, at By) + + Rosa Bonheur was inimitable in the art of seizing the expression + on the face of an animal. Here, for instance, is a study of an + ass which makes quite a charming picture. Note the admirable + rendering of the animal's attitude, which is half obstinacy and + half resignation, while the worn-out body weighs so heavily on + the shrunken legs!] + +Rosalie could hardly walk before she was drawing and painting +everywhere. Later on, she gave a spirited account of this: + +"I was not yet four years old when I conceived a veritable passion for +drawing, and I bespattered the white walls as high as I could reach +with my shapeless daubs: another great source of amusement was to cut +objects out of paper. They were always the same, however: I would +begin by making long paper ribbons, then with my scissors, I would cut +out, in the first place, a shepherd, and after him a dog, and next a +cow, and next a ship, and next a tree, invariably in the same order. I +have spent many a long day at this pastime." + +The Bonheurs had, at this time, formed a close friendship with a +family by the name of Silvela, but the latter left Bordeaux in 1828 in +order to assume the direction of an institute for boys in Paris. The +separation did not break off their intercourse. They corresponded +frequently and in every letter the Silvelas urged Raymond Bonheur to +come and join them in Paris where, they said, he would find an easier +and more remunerative way of employing his talent. These repeated +appeals strongly tempted the man, but a journey to Paris, at this +epoch, was not an easy matter. Besides, his family had increased to +the extent of two more children: Auguste Bonheur, born in 1824, and +Isidore Bonheur, born in 1827. At last, after much hesitation, he made +up his mind to set forth alone to try his luck, prepared to return +home if he did not succeed. + +He went directly to the Silvelas' in the capacity of instructor of +drawing; the families of some of the pupils took an interest in him +and obtained him opportunities. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, the great +naturalist, entrusted him with the execution of a large number of +plates for a natural history. If not a fortune, this was at least an +assured living. Accordingly, Bonheur decided to transfer his entire +household to Paris. + +They joined him in 1829 and were installed in the Rue Saint-Antoine. + +Little Rosa, who was then seven years old, was no sooner settled in +Paris, than she was placed together with her brothers in a boys' +school which happened to be located in the same house where the +Bonheurs lived. + +Being brought up with young boys of her own age, she acquired those +boyish manners that she retained throughout life, and to which she +owes, without the slightest doubt, that virile mark which was destined +to characterize her painting. She used to go with her comrades, during +recess, to play in the Place Royale. "I was the ring-leader in all +the games and I did not hesitate, when necessary, to use my fists." + +The revolution of 1830 ensued and Rosa witnessed it develop beneath +the windows of her father's dwelling. These were evil hours and the +Bonheur family suffered in consequence. Lessons became rarer and the +pinch of poverty was felt within the household, which was forced to +migrate again to No. 30 Rue des Tournelles, a large seventeenth +century mansion, solemn and gloomy, of which Rosa must have retained +the worst possible memories had it not chanced that it was here she +acquired a little comrade, Mlle. Micas, who was destined to become, +subsequently, her best friend. + +The years which followed were equally unfortunate for Raymond Bonheur: +Paris had hardly recovered from the shock of the Revolution, when in +1832 the cholera made its appearance. There was no further question of +lessons, for everyone thought solely of his own safety; the rich fled +from the city, the others remained closely housed in order to avoid +the fatal contagion. To escape the scourge, Raymond Bonheur once more +changed his dwelling and established himself in the Rue du Helder. +Variable and impulsive by nature, the painter delighted in change. He +was barely installed in the Rue du Helder when he left the new abode +in order to move to Ménilmontant in the centre of a hotbed of +Saint-Simonism, the doctrines of which he had enthusiastically +espoused. In 1833, we find him installed on the Quai des Écoles. This +year a great misfortune befell the family: Mme. Bonheur died and the +painter found himself alone and burdened with the responsibility of +feeding, tending, and bringing up four children, one of whom, Isabelle +Bonheur, born in 1830, was only three years old. + +It was at this time that Raymond Bonheur became anxious to have Rosa, +who was now eleven years of age, acquire some vocation. Inasmuch as +she had shown the most violent aversion to study in every school she +had attended, her father fancied that perhaps business would be more +to her taste. Accordingly he apprenticed her to a dressmaker. But the +young girl showed no more inclination for sewing than for arithmetic +and grammar. At the end of two weeks it became necessary to give up +the experiment. + +Raymond Bonheur, who was absent all day long giving lessons, was +absolutely bent upon finding some occupation for Rosa. He made one +last attempt to send her to school; so he placed her with Mme. Gibert +in the Rue de Reuilly. Rosa with her boyish manners and her +incorrigible turbulence brought revolution into the peaceful precincts +of the pension. She engaged her new comrades in games of mimic +warfare, combats, cavalry charges across the flower-beds of the garden +which was reduced to ruins before the end of the second day. The +principal in consternation returned the irrepressible amazon to her +father. + +The latter, in very natural despair, allowed Rosa to stay at home, in +the Rue des Tournelles, where he was newly established and where he +had fitted up a studio. He even allowed the young girl free entry to +the studio and gave her permission to sketch. She asked for nothing +better. While her father scoured the city on his round of lessons, she +would shut herself into the studio and work with desperate energy, +taking in turn every object hanging on the walls for her models. + +One day on returning home, at the end of his day's work, Raymond +Bonheur discovered on the easel a little canvas representing a bunch +of cherries, a well drawn canvas and excellently painted from nature. +This was Rosa Bonheur's first painting; it bore witness to a genuine +artistic temperament. Her father was delighted, but he hid his +pleasure. + +"That is not so bad," he allowed to Rosa. "Work seriously, and you may +become an artist." + +This word of encouragement set the young girl's heart to pulsing with +emotion. Then it needed only application and courage? She felt within +her an energy that nothing could rebuff and an ambition that nothing +could quench. + +Rosa Bonheur had found her path. + + + + +THE FIRST SUCCESSES + + +Not long after this, a serious and determined young girl might be seen +in the halls of the Louvre, copying with desperate energy the works of +the great masters. She wore an eccentric costume, consisting of a sort +of dolman with military frogs. It was young Rosa Bonheur serving her +apprenticeship to art. The students and copyists who regularly +frequented the museum, not knowing her name, had christened her "the +little hussard." But the jests and criticisms flung out by passing +strangers in regard to her work, far from discouraging her, only +drove her to still more obstinate and persistent study. The hours +which she did not consecrate to the Louvre, she spent in her father's +studio, multiplying her sketches and anatomical studies. Even at this +period she had already grasped instinctively the truth formulated by +Ingres, that "honesty in art depends upon line-work." Few painters +have so far insisted upon this honesty, this conscientiousness, +without which the most gifted artist remains incomplete. Whatever +gifts he may be endowed with by nature, talent cannot be improvised; +it is the fruit of independent and sustained toil. Later on, when she +in her turn became a teacher, Rosa Bonheur was able to proclaim the +necessity of line-work with all the more authority because it had +always been the fundamental basis, the very scaffolding of all her +works. "It is the true grammar of art," she would affirm, "and the +time thus spent cannot fail to be profitable in the future." + + [Illustration: PLATE III.--THE HORSE FAIR + + (National Gallery, London) + + This painting is considered by some critics to be Rosa Bonheur's + masterpiece. There is no other painting of hers in which she + attained the same degree of power, or the same degree of truth + in individual expression. What naturalness, and what vigour in + this drove of prancing horses, and what movement of those + haunches straining under the effort of the muscles!] + +During this period of study, she was living in the Rue de la +Bienfaisance; her father's mania for changing his residence dragged +her successively to the Rue du Roule, and then to the Rue Rumford, in +the level stretch of the Monceau quarter, where Raymond Bonheur, who +had just remarried, installed his new household. + +At that time the Rue Rumford was practically in the open country. On +all sides there were farms abundantly stocked with cows, sheep, pigs, +and poultry. This was an unforeseen piece of good fortune for young +Rosa, and she felt her passionate love for animals reawaken. Equipped +with her pencils, she installed herself at a farm at Villiers, near to +the park of Neuilly, and there she would spend the entire day, +striving to catch and record the different attitudes of her favourite +models. For the sake of greater accuracy, she made a study of the +anatomy of animals, and even did some work in dissection. Not content +with this, she applied herself to sculpture, and made models of the +animals in clay or wax before drawing them. This is how she came to +acquire her clever talent for sculpture which would have sufficed to +establish a reputation if she had not become the admirable painter +that we know her to have been. + +Her special path was now determined: she would be a painter of +animals. She understood them, she knew them, and loved them. But it +did not satisfy her to study them out-of-doors; she wanted them in her +own home. She persuaded her father to admit a sheep into the +apartment; then, little by little, the menagerie was increased by a +goat, a dog, a squirrel, some caged birds, and a number of quails that +roamed at liberty about her room. + +At last, in 1841, after years of devoted toil, Rosa ventured to offer +to the Salon a little painting representing _Two Rabbits_ and a +drawing depicting some _Dogs and Sheep_. Both the drawing and the +painting were accepted. It was an occasion of great rejoicing both +for Rosa Bonheur and for her father. The young artist was at this time +only nineteen years of age. + +From this time forward, she sent pictures to the Salon annually. +During the first years her exhibits passed unnoticed; but little by +little her sincerity and the vigour of her talent made an impression +upon the critics. The latter were soon forced to admire the intense +relief of her method of painting, living animals transcribed in full +action, and their different physiognomies rendered with admirable +fidelity and art. But what labour it cost to arrive at this degree of +perfection! Every morning, the young artist made the rounds of +slaughter-houses, markets, the Museum, anywhere and everywhere that +she might see and study animals. And this was destined to continue +throughout her entire life. + +In 1842 she sent three paintings to the Salon: namely, an _Evening +Effect in a Pasture_, a _Cow lying in a Pasture_, and a _Horse for +Sale_; and in addition to these, a terra-cotta, the _Shorn Sheep_, +which received the approval of the critics. And no less praise was +bestowed upon her paintings, which showed a talent for landscape fully +equal to her mastery of animal portraiture. + +Her success was progressive. Her pictures in the Salon of 1843 sold to +advantage and Rosa Bonheur was able to travel. She brought home from +her trip five works that found a place in the Salon of 1845. The +following year her exhibits produced a sensation. Anatole de la Forge +devoted an enthusiastic article to her, and the jury awarded her a +third-class medal. + +"In 1845," Rosa Bonheur herself relates, "the recipients had to go in +person to obtain their medals at the director's office. I went, armed +with all the courage of my twenty-three years. The director of +fine-arts complimented me and presented the medal in the name of the +king. Imagine his stupefaction when I replied: 'I beg of you, +Monsieur, to thank the king on my behalf, and be so kind as to add +that I shall try to do better another time.'" + +Rosa Bonheur kept her word: her whole life was a long and sustained +effort to "do better." After the Salon of 1846, where she was +represented by five remarkable exhibits, she paid a visit to Auvergne, +where she was able to study a breed of cattle very different from any +that she had hitherto seen and painted: superb animals of massive +build, with compact bodies, short and powerful legs, and wide-spread +nostrils. The sheep and horses also had a characteristic physiognomy +that was strongly marked and noted with scrupulous care, and enabled +her to reappear in the Salon of 1847 with new types that gathered +crowds around her canvases, to stare in wonderment at these animals +which were so obviously different from those which academic convention +was in the habit of showing them. + +The general public admired, and so did the critics. It was only the +jury that remained hostile towards this independent and personal +manner of painting, which ignored the established procedure of the +schools and based itself wholly upon inspiration and sincerity; +accordingly, they always took pains to place her pictures in obscure +corners or at inaccessible heights. The public, however, which always +finds its way to what it likes, took pains on its part to discover and +enjoy them. + +In 1848 Rosa Bonheur had her revenge. The recently proclaimed +Republic, wishing to show its generosity towards artists, decreed that +all works offered that year to the Salon should without exception be +received. As to the awards, they were to be determined by a jury from +which the official and administrative element was to be henceforth +banished. The judges were Léon Cogniet, Ingres, Delacroix, Horace +Vernet, Decamps, Robert-Fleury, Ary Scheffer, Meissonier, Corot, Paul +Delaroche, Jules Dupré, Isabey, Drolling, Flandrin, and Roqueplan. + +Rosa Bonheur exhibited six paintings and two pieces of sculpture. The +paintings comprised: _Oxen and Bulls_ (Cantal Breed), _Sheep in a +Pasture_, _Salers Oxen Grazing_, a _Running Dog_ (Vendée breed), _The +Miller Walking_, _An Ox_. The two bronzes represented a _Bull_ and a +_Sheep_. + +Her success was complete. Judged by her peers, in the absence of +academic prejudice, she obtained a medal of the first class. + +This year an event took place in her domestic life. As a result of +recent remarriage, her father had a son, Germain Bonheur. The house +had become too small for the now enlarged family; besides, the crying +of the child, and the constant coming and going necessitated by the +care that it required seriously interfered with Rosa's work. +Accordingly she left her home in the Rue Rumford and took a studio in +the Rue de l'Ouest. She was accompanied by Mlle. Micas, the old-time +friend of her childhood, whom she had rediscovered, and who from this +time forth attached herself to Rosa with a devotion surpassing +that of a sister, and almost like that of a mother. She also was an +artist and took a studio adjoining that of her friend; several times +she collaborated on Rosa's canvases, when the latter was over-burdened +with work. After Rosa had sketched her landscape and blocked in her +animals, Mlle. Micas would carry the work forward, and Rosa, coming +after her, would add the finishing touch of her vigorous and +unfaltering brush. But to Rosa Bonheur Mlle. Micas meant far more as a +friend than as a collaborator. With a devoted and touching tenderness +she watched over the material welfare of the great artist, who was by +nature quite indifferent to the material things of life. It was the +good and faithful Nathalie who supervised Rosa's meals and repaired +her garments. She was also a good counsellor, and on many different +occasions Rosa Bonheur paid tribute to the intelligence and devotion +of her friend. + + [Illustration: PLATE IV.--PLOUGHING IN THE NIVERNAIS + + (Luxembourg Museum) + + This painting shows the artist in the full possession of her + vigorous and unfaltering talent. The Luxembourg is to-day proud + of the possession of such a masterpiece. It testifies to Rosa + Bonheur's equal eminence as an animal painter and a painter of + landscapes.] + +The resplendent successes of recent Salons had in no wise diminished +Rosa Bonheur's ardent passion for study. In contrast to many another +artist, who think that there is nothing more to learn, as soon as they +become known, she persevered without respite in her painful drudgery +of research and documentation. + +Every day she covered the distance from the Rue de l'Ouest to the +slaughter-houses in order to catch some hitherto unknown aspect of +animal life, and to note the quivering of the wretched beast that +scents the blood and foresees its approaching death. + +There was much that was disagreeable for a young woman in this daily +promiscuous contact with butchers, heavy, tactless brutes, who +frequently insulted her with their vulgar and suggestive jokes. She +pretended not to understand, but nothing short of her unconquerable +passion for study would have sustained her courage. + +Together with the success of recognition came the success of +prosperity. Rosa began to sell her paintings profitably. A certain +shirt-manufacturer, M. Bourges, who was also an art collector, +acquired a goodly number of her works; and after him came M. Tedesco, +the celebrated picture dealer, who was a keen admirer of her talent. +In 1849, the far reaching renown of her _Ploughing in the Nivernais_ +brought her the honour of making a sale to the State, which acquired +the celebrated painting for the Museum of the Luxembourg, where it +still remains. + +The subject of the picture is well known: in a pleasant stretch of +rolling country, bounded by a wooded slope, two teams of oxen are +dragging their heavy ploughs and turning up a field in which we see +the furrows that have already been laid open. The whole interest +centres in the team in the foreground. The six oxen which compose it, +ponderous and slow, convey a striking impression of tranquil force: +and from the different attitudes of the six, we perceive a progression +in the degree of effort put forth to drag the plough. The first two +move with a heavy nonchalance that bears witness to the slight +contribution that they make to the task; the next two, being nearer +the plough, are doing more real work; their straining limbs sink +deeper into the earth and their lowered heads indicate the greater +tension of their muscles. As to the last two, they are sustaining the +heaviest part of the toil, as is apparent from the way in which their +muscles visibly stand out, and from the contraction of their limbs +gathered under them in the effort to drag free the weight of the +ploughshare buried in the soil. It is only those who never have +witnessed the tilling of the soil who could remain unmoved in the +presence of such a work. The oxen are admirable in composition, in +action, in modelling, and in strength. And what is to be said of the +landscape which is bathed in a clear, bright light, flecked here and +there with trails of fleecy cloud? + +It seemed that after such a picture, it would be impossible for +Rosa Bonheur to rise to a greater height of perfection. Nevertheless, +three years later she exhibited her _Horse Fair_, a remarkable +achievement which raised her while still living to the pinnacle of +glory. The _Horse Fair_ is not only the artist's masterpiece, but it +is one of those productions which do the greatest honour to French +painting. Celebrated from the day of its first appearance, this canvas +has steadily gained in the esteem of the world of art and was destined +to bring, even in our own times, the fabulous price attained by +certain paintings by Rembrandt, Raphael, and Holbein. + + [Illustration: PLATE V.--OSSIAN'S DREAM + + (Rosa Bonheur Studio, Peyrol Collection) + + A fantasy by the great artist. During her visit to Scotland her + soul had thrilled at the recital of poetic legends; and this is + one of these dreams that she has rendered in an inspired page, + in which she reveals her mastery of a type of subject which she + undertook only accidentally.] + +In preparation for her _Horse Fair_, Rosa Bonheur betook herself daily +to the spot where the fair was held. But having learned wisdom through +the embarrassment of her experiences at the slaughter-house, she +assumed masculine garments, in order to attract less attention. She +formed the habit of assuming them frequently from that time onward, +especially in her studio. + +In spite of its triumphal success, the _Horse Fair_ did not +immediately find a purchaser and was returned to the artist's studio. +It was acquired later on by Mr. Gambard, the great London picture +dealer, for the sum of 40,000 francs. + +This celebrated canvas has a lengthy history which deserves to be +related. + +In coming to terms with Mr. Gambard, Rosa Bonheur, who was never +avaricious, feared that she had exacted too large a sum in demanding +40,000 francs. Since the purchaser desired to reproduce the picture in +the form of an engraving, and its dimensions were so great as to +hamper considerably the work of the engraver, she offered to make Mr. +Gambard, without extra charge, a reduced replica of the _Horse Fair_, +one-quarter the original size. + +Mr. Gambard, who was making an excellent bargain, accepted with an +eagerness that it is easy to imagine. The reduced copy was delivered +and was immediately purchased by an English art fancier, Mr. Jacob +Bell, for the sum of 25,000 francs. As for the original, it was +exhibited in the Pall Mall gallery, but its vast dimensions +discouraged purchasers. It was at last acquired by an American, Mr. +Wright, at the cost of 30,000 francs, on condition that Mr. Gambard +might retain possession for two or three years longer, in order to +exhibit it in England and the United States. When the moment for +delivery arrived, the American claimed that he was entitled to a share +of the profits resulting from the exhibition of the work. As a +consequence, the picture which was originally purchased by Mr. Gambard +for 40,000 francs, eventually brought him in only 23,000, while the +reduced replica, which cost him nothing, brought him in 25,000 francs. +Considerably later, the American owner having met with reverses, the +_Horse Fair_ was sold at public auction and was knocked down at +$53,000 (265,000 francs) to Mr. Vanderbilt, who presented it to the +Metropolitan Museum of Art. + +As to the reduced copy, the property of Mr. Jacob Bell, the latter +bequeathed it, together with his other paintings, to the National +Gallery, where it now is. The reproduction which we give in the +present volume was made from this smaller copy. + +When Rosa Bonheur learned that this reduced replica was to find a +place in the National Gallery, she exhibited a scrupulousness that +well illustrates her honesty and disinterestedness. Since it was +originally painted merely to serve as a model for the engraver, the +artist had not given it the finish that she was accustomed to give to +her pictures. Accordingly, she set to work for the third time to paint +the _Horse Fair_, and bestowed upon it such conscientious work and +mature talent that in the opinion of some judges this second replica +is superior to the original. When the canvas was finished, she offered +it to the London Gallery. The English authorities were deeply touched +by the scrupulousness of the famous artist, and thanked her cordially, +but explained that they felt themselves bound by the terms of the +Jacob Bell bequest, and consequently could not take advantage of her +generous offer. The work, nevertheless, remained in England, having +been purchased by a Mr. MacConnel for 2,500 francs. + +After her immense success at the Salon of 1854, Rosa Bonheur gave up +her studio in the Rue de l'Ouest, and installed herself in the Rue +d'Assas, in a studio which she had had built expressly to suit her +needs. + + + + +THE YEARS OF GLORY + + +The new studio in the Rue d'Assas was very far from being a +commonplace studio. It was situated in the rear of a large court, and +occupied the entire rear building. It was an immense room, with a +broad, high window, through which a superb flood of daylight streamed +in; and from floor to ceiling the walls were lined with studies, +drawings, sketches, rough essays in colour, that the great artist had +brought back from her travels. So far, nothing the least out of the +ordinary. But what gave the establishment its picturesque and curious +character was the court-yard, transformed by Rosa Bonheur into a +veritable farm. Under shelters arranged along the walls a variety of +animals roamed at will: goats, heifers of pure Berri breed, a ram, an +otter, a monkey, a pack of dogs, and her favourite mare, Margot. +Mingled with the divers cries of this heterogeneous menagerie, were +the bewildering twitterings of an assortment of birds, the clucking of +hens, the sonorous quack-quack of ducks, and dominating all the rest, +the strident screams of numerous parrakeets. + +And all this was only one part of her menagerie; the rest was +domiciled at her country place at Chevilly, where she also had another +studio. Even in the country Rosa Bonheur had no chance to rest. She +had now become celebrated, and the patrons of art fought among +themselves for her productions. The two art firms of Tedesco in Paris +and Gambard in London deluged her with orders; and, in spite of her +courage, she could hardly keep pace with them. + +Her reputation had overleaped frontiers; she was as celebrated abroad +as she was in France. The city of Ghent, to which she had loaned the +_Horse Fair_ for its exposition, demonstrated its gratitude by sending +her an official delegation headed by the burgomaster himself, to +present her with a jewel of much value. + +Her talent was no longer open to question; everyone agreed in +recognizing it. The critics saw in her far more than a conscientious +and gifted artist; they regarded her as the inspired interpreter of +rural life. "The work of Rosa Bonheur," wrote Anatole de la Forge in +1855, "might be entitled the _Hymn to Labour_. Here she shows us the +tillage of the soil; there, the sowing; further on, the reaping of the +hay, and then that of the grain; elsewhere the vintage; always and +everywhere, the labour of the field. Man, under her inspired touch, +appears only as a docile instrument, placed here by the hand of God +in order to extract from the bowels of the earth the eternal riches +that it contains. Also, in depicting him as associated with the toil +of animals, she shows him to us only under a useful and noble aspect; +now at the head of his oxen, bringing home the wagons heavily laden +with the fruit of the harvest; or again, with his hand gripping the +plough, cleaving the soil to render it more productive." And Mazure, +writing at the same period, declared: "Next to the old Dutch painters, +and better than the early landscape artists in France, we have in our +own day some very clever painters of cattle. They are Messieurs +Brascassat, Coignard, Palizzi, and Troyon, and more especially a +woman, Mlle. Rosa Bonheur, who carries this order of talent to the +point of genius. Several of them must be praised for the art with +which they work their animals into the setting of the landscape; but +if we consider the painting of the animals themselves, regardless of +the landscape, and if what we are seeking is a monograph on the +labour of the fields, nothing can compare with the artist whose name +stands last in the above list." + + [Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE DUEL + + (Collection of Messrs. Lefêvre, London) + + This picture is one of the last that Rosa Bonheur painted. It is + celebrated in England because of the reputation of the two + horses who are engaged in this passionate duel, on which the + artist has expended all the resources of her marvellous talent.] + +Equally enthusiastic over her paintings was Mr. Gambard, who +supplemented his enthusiasm with a very warm personal friendship for +the great artist. He had several times invited her to visit England; +in 1854 Rosa Bonheur made up her mind to take the journey, accompanied +by Mlle. Micas. It proved to be a triumphal journey. After a sojourn +at the Rectory at Wexham, with Mr. Gambard as host,--a sojourn marked +by official invitations and delicate attentions,--Rosa Bonheur made a +long excursion into Scotland, accompanied by friends across the +Channel. + +This cattle-raising land stirred her to a passionate interest. In the +fields through which her route lay cattle came into view from time to +time; and hereupon the artist would have the carriage halted, and take +notes upon her drawing tablets. Each herd that was encountered meant +a new halt and new sketches. The great fair at Falkirk, to which herds +were brought from every corner of Scotland, afforded her a unique +opportunity for observations and studies. From morning until evening +she plied her pencil feverishly, accumulating material for future +paintings. At this same fair she purchased a young bull and five +superb oxen, to help complete her menagerie. From this journey she +brought back a number of pictures of remarkable vigour and beauty. +They include a _Morning in the Highlands_, _Denizens of the +Highlands_, _Changing Pasture_, _After a Storm in the Highlands_, +etc., etc. + +Rosa Bonheur returned to her studio in the Rue d'Assas and immediately +prepared her exhibits for the Universal Exposition of 1855. She was +represented there by a _Hay Harvest in Auvergne_, which brought her +the grand medal of honour. + +From this time forward Rosa Bonheur ceased to exhibit at the Salons. +She believed, and not without reason, that her reputation had nothing +more to gain by these annual offerings, which interrupted her more +productive work. She had given herself freely to the public; +henceforth she sought only to satisfy the demands of the patrons of +art, who, in daily increasing numbers, besieged her with their orders. +She worked chiefly for the English, who had given her so warm a +welcome, and who, perhaps, had a better sense than the French have, of +the beauty of the life of the soil. The Frenchman, good judge that he +is in matters of art, duly admires a beautiful work, regardless of its +subject; he is able to appreciate the composition of an agricultural +scene, but, being little inclined by nature to the work of the fields, +he will rarely feel a desire to adorn the walls of his apartment with +a _Harvest Scene_ or _Grazing Cattle_; he assumes that it is the +business of the museums to acquire pictures of this order. The +Englishman is quite different. As a landed proprietor deeply attached +to his ancestral acres, he appreciates paintings of rural life, less +as an artist than professionally, as a gentleman-farmer who knows all +the breeds of cattle and sheep and to whom Rosa Bonheur's paintings +were at this epoch veritable documents, quite as much as they were +works of art. + +In 1860, she gave up her studio in the Rue d'Assas, as well as the one +at Chevilly, in order to install herself at By, in the chateau of By +which she had purchased for 50,000 francs and in which she had a vast +studio constructed. Hither she transferred her imposing menagerie +which had grown year by year through new acquisitions. It included +sheep, gazelles, stags, does, kids, an eagle, various other birds, +horses, goats, watch dogs, hunting dogs, greyhounds, wild boars, +lions, a yak (an animal known by the name of the grunting ox of +Tartary), monkeys, parrakeets, marmosets, squirrels, ferrets, turtles, +green lizards, Iceland ponies, moufflons, lizards, wild American +mustangs, bulls, cows, etc. + +Rosa Bonheur worked with desperate energy in the midst of her models +and delighted in portraying them in a setting of some one of those +picturesque and impressive vistas of the forest of Fontainebleau, +adjacent to her own residence. She was unremittingly productive; yet +France hardly heard her name mentioned save as an echo of her triumphs +abroad. England has gone wild over her paintings; and America was not +slow in following suit. + +But the echo was so loud, especially after the Universal Exposition at +London in 1862, that the government three years later made her +Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Rosa Bonheur has given her own +account of the event: + +"In 1865," she writes, "I was busily engaged one afternoon over my +pictures (I had the _Stags at Long-Rocher_ on my easel), when I heard +the cracking of a postillion's whip and the rumble of a carriage. My +little maid Félicité entered the studio in great excitement: + +"'Mademoiselle, mademoiselle! Her Majesty the Empress!' + +"I had barely time to slip on a linen skirt and exchange my long blue +blouse for a velvet jacket. + +"'I have here,' the empress told me, 'a little gift which I have +brought you on behalf of the Emperor. He has authorized me to take +advantage of the last day of my regency to announce your appointment +to the Legion of Honour.' + +"And in conferring the title, she kissed the newly made Chevalier and +pinned the cross upon my velvet jacket. A few days later I received an +invitation to take breakfast at Fontainebleau where the Imperial Court +was installed. On the appointed day, they sent to fetch me in gala +equipage. On arriving, I mistook the door and was about to lose my +way, when M. Mocquard came to my rescue and offered his arm to escort +me. At breakfast, I was placed beside the Emperor and throughout the +whole repast he talked to me regarding the intelligence of animals. +The Empress afterwards took me for an excursion on the lake in a +gondola. The Prince Imperial, who had previously called upon me at By, +accompanied us. This visit to the Court greatly interested me, but I +think that I must have been a disappointment to Princess Metternich +who amused herself with watching my every movement, expecting no doubt +to see me commit some breach of etiquette." + +In acknowledgment of the distinguished honour she had received from +the Emperor, Rosa Bonheur felt that she was in duty bound to be +represented at the Universal Exposition of 1867. Accordingly, she sent +no less than ten remarkable works: _Donkey Drivers of Aragon_, _Ponies +From the Isle of Skye_, _Sheep on the Seashore_, _A Ship_, _Oxen and +Cows_, _Kids Resting_, _A Shepherd in Béarn_, _The Razzia_, etc. + +All that she obtained was a medal of the second class. The judges owed +her a grudge because of her long neglect of twelve years. There could +be no question of disputing her talent, but they resented her having +employed it solely for the benefit of England. The critics showed her +the same coldness, courteous but unmistakable. In some of the +articles, she was referred to as _Miss_ Rosa Bonheur. Some little +injustice was intermingled with this show of hostility; Troyon was +exalted at her expense; and her animals were criticized as being +"purplish and cottony." Furthermore, they reproached her with the fact +that all the pictures exhibited were owned by Englishmen, with the +single exception of the _Sheep on the Seashore_, which was the +property of the Empress. + +It is necessary here to open a parenthesis and refer to a period in +the life of the great artist which should not be passed over in +silence: the period of her art school. For this purpose we must turn +back to the year 1849. At that time Raymond Bonheur who, as we know, +gave drawing lessons, was directing a school of design for young +girls, situated in the Rue Dupuytren. One year after his appointment +as director, Raymond Bonheur died and the direction of the school +was instructed to Rosa, who enlisted the aid of her sister, also a +painter of some talent, who was subsequently married to M. Peyrol. + + [Illustration: PLATE VII.--TIGERS + + (Rosa Bonheur Studio, at By) + + Rosa Bonheur spent entire days in the Jardin des Plantes, or in + menageries in order to catch the attitudes and the mobile + physiognomies of the beasts of prey. Accordingly no other artist + has attained such perfect truth, as is shown in the tigers here + portrayed.] + +Rosa Bonheur fulfilled her duties with much devotion and intelligence. +She herself had too high a regard for line-work to fail to bring to +her task as teacher all of her ardent faith as an artist. She divided +the scheme of instruction into two series, one of the _great studies_ +of animals and the other of _little studies_. Rosa Bonheur was not +always an agreeable teacher; she made a show of authority, not to say +severity. She would not excuse laziness or negligence, and when a +pupil showed her a drawing that was obviously done in a hurry she +would grow indignant: + +"Go back to your mother," she would say, "and mend your stockings or +do embroidery work." + +But this pedagogical rigour was promptly offset by a return of her +natural kindliness, a jesting word, a pleasantry, an affectionate +term intended to prevent the discouragement of a pupil who often was +guilty of nothing worse than thoughtlessness. + +Under her firm and able guidance, the school achieved success. Many of +her graduate pupils attained an honourable career in painting, and if +no name worthy of being remembered is included among the whole number, +the reason is that genius cannot be manufactured and that it was not +within the power of Rosa Bonheur to give to her young pupils something +of herself. + +In 1860, the great artist, being overburdened with work and unable to +carry on simultaneously the instruction and practice of her art, +resigned her position as director. The school passed into the hands of +Mlle. Maraudon de Monthycle, who won distinction as a director, but +did not succeed in making the name of Rosa Bonheur forgotten. + +The time of her retirement as professor of the school of design +coincides with that of her installation at By. After having in a +measure obeyed the paternal tradition of repeated removals, she was +this time definitely established. It was destined to be her last +residence; and it certainly was an attractive place, that great +chateau of By, with its broad windows and its original style, which +called to mind certain dwellings in Holland. And what a delightful +setting it had in the shape of the forest of Fontainebleau, so varied +in aspect, so rich in picturesque corners, so alluring with the beauty +of its dense woodlands, and the poetry of its open glades! + +Rosa Bonheur was always passionately enamoured of nature, of the +entire work of creation. She adored animals neither more nor less than +she loved beautiful trees and broad horizons; she went into ecstacies +before the splendour of the rising sun which day by day brings a +renewed thrill of life to all things and creatures; and it was equally +one of her joys to watch the diffused light spreading softly through a +misty haze over the slumbering earth. + +Rosa Bonheur had no sooner withdrawn to the solitude of By than she +sought, as we have already seen, to become forgotten, in order to +devote herself exclusively to the innumerable tasks which incessant +orders from England and America demanded of her. She planned for +herself a laborious and tranquil existence, rendered all the +pleasanter through the devoted and watchful affection of her old +friend, Mlle. Nathalie Micas, who lived with her. We have seen that +she came out of her voluntary obscurity in 1867 to the extent of +sending a few pictures to the Universal Exposition. From this date +onward she ceased to exhibit, and no other canvas bearing her +signature was seen in public until the Salon of 1899, which was the +year of her death. + +Relieved of all outside interruption, Rosa Bonheur worked with +indefatigable energy. Yet she could hardly keep pace with the demands +of her purchasers, who were constantly increasing in number and +constantly more urgent. Her paintings had acquired a vogue abroad and +brought their weight in gold. Certain pictures brought speculative +prices in America even before they were finished and while they were +still on the easel at By. At this period, it may be added, everything +which came from the artist's brush possessed an incomparable and +masterly finish. Never a suggestion of weakness in design even in her +most hastily executed canvases. I must at once add that hasty canvases +are extremely rare in the life work of Rosa Bonheur; she had too high +a sense of duty to her art and too great a respect for her own name to +slight any necessary work on a canvas. Certain pictures appear to have +been done rapidly solely because the artist possessed among her +portfolios fragmentary studies made from nature and drawn with +scrupulous care, and all that she needed to do was to transfer them to +her canvas. + +From the host of works that the artist put forth at this period, we +may cite: 1865, _Changing Pasture_, _A Family of Roebuck_; 1867, _Kids +Resting_; 1868, _Shetland Ponies_; 1869, _Sheep in Brittany_; 1870, +_The Cartload of Stones_. + +The war of 1870 brought consternation to her patriotic soul. She +suffered cruelly from the ills which had befallen her country. +Generous by nature and a French woman to her inmost fibre, she did her +utmost to relieve the suffering that she saw around her as a result of +the Prussian invasion. She spoke words of comfort to the peasants and +aided them with donations, distributing bags of grain that were sent +to her by her friend Gambard, at this time consul at Odessa. + +One day a Prussian officer of high rank presented himself at her home +in the name of Prince Karl-Frederick. The latter, who was a confirmed +admirer of the artist, whom he had met in former years, sent her an +order of safe-conduct which would place her and her belongings beyond +the danger of any annoyance. Rosa Bonheur ran her eye over the paper +and in the presence of the officer tore it into tiny pieces. Nobly +and simply the great artist refused to accept any favours, feeling, in +view of the existing painful circumstances, that it would be a +shameful thing for her to do. A French woman before all else, she +submitted in advance to all the abuses and exigencies of the +conquerors. On another occasion, a German prince came to By, to pay +his respects. She refused to receive him. We should add that the +Prussians, whose excesses and brutalities were so frequent during that +campaign, had the wisdom not to meddle with Rosa Bonheur. + +After the treaty of peace was signed, she set herself eagerly to work +once more. "I was occupied at that time," she wrote, "in studying the +big cats; I made sketches at the Jardin des Plantes, in the circuses, +in the menageries, anywhere and everywhere that I could find lions and +panthers." + +This is the epoch from which dates that admirable series of wild +beasts in which Rosa Bonheur manifests a power of expression and +virility of execution that she never before had occasion to display, +and that seem absolutely incredible as coming from the brush of a +woman. No other painter has rendered with greater truth and force the +undulous and elastic movements of the panther or the tiger; Barye +himself, in his admirable bronzes, has never endowed his lions with +greater life or more majestic grandeur than Rosa Bonheur has done. The +latter, with her astounding memory and with an eye as profound and +luminous as a photographic lens, caught and retained the most fugitive +expressions on the mobile physiognomy of the great cats. She noted +them down with rapid and unfaltering pencil; the painting of the +picture after this was a mere matter of execution. Is there any finer +presentment of the tranquil beauty of a lion in repose than _The Lion +Meditating_? Beneath the royal mane, his features have a haughty +placidity and his eyes a serene intentness that are admirably +rendered. _The Lion Roaring_ is possibly even more beautiful, because +of the difficulty which the artist had to overcome in catching the +peculiarly rapid and mobile expression which accompanies the act of +roaring. Under the effort of his tense muscles, the mane rises, +bristling, around the powerful neck and above the straining head. +There is nothing cruel in the physiognomy of this lion: his roaring is +not the cry of the beast of prey scenting his victim, but the call of +the desert king, saluting the rising orb of day or the descending +night. The artist has admirably expressed this difference in a +foreshortening of the head which Correggio or Veronese might have +envied her. + + [Illustration: PLATE VIII.--TRAMPLING THE GRAIN + + (Rosa Bonheur Studio, at By) + + This work, which was her last, is one of the most beautiful of + all that Rosa Bonheur painted because of the intensity of the + movement which sweeps the horses in a superb headlong rush, over + the heaped-up grain which they trample under foot. This splendid + canvas remains unfinished, death having overtaken the noble + artist before the final touches had been added.] + +In all the animals that she painted,--and she painted nearly all the +animals there are,--Rosa Bonheur succeeded in reproducing their +separate characteristic expressions, "the amount of soul which nature +has bestowed upon them." M. Roger Milès, the excellent art critic, +from whom we have frequently borrowed in the course of this biography, +expresses it in the following admirable manner: + +"Through the infinite study that she made of animals, Rosa +Bonheur reached the conviction that their expression must be the +interpretation of a soul, and since she understood the types and the +species that her brush reproduced, she was able, through an instinct +of extraordinary precision, to endow them, one and all, with precisely +the glance and the psychic intensity that belongs to them. She takes +the animals in the environment in which they live, in the setting with +which their form harmonizes, in short, in the conditions that have +played an essential part in their evolution, and she records with +inflexible sincerity what nature places beneath her eyes and what her +patient study has permitted her to understand. It is more especially +for this reason, among many others, that the work of Rosa Bonheur +deserves to live, and that the eminent artist stands to-day as one of +the most finished animal painters with which the history of our +national art is honoured." + +In the peaceful and laborious atmosphere of By, the years slipped +happily away. But before long a cloud came to darken this serenity. +The health of her tenderly loved friend, Mlle. Micas, began to +decline; the doctor ordered a southern climate. Rosa Bonheur did not +hesitate; she had a villa built at Nice, and every year, during the +winter, the artist accompanied her beloved invalid to the land of +sunshine. These annual changes of climate and the care with which Rosa +Bonheur surrounded her friend certainly delayed the fatal issue. But +the disease had taken too deep a hold. Mlle. Micas passed away on the +24th of June, 1889. "This loss broke my heart," wrote the artist. "It +was a long time before I could find in my work any relief from my +bitter pain. I think of her every day and I bless the memory of that +soul which was so closely in touch with my own." + +From that day onward, Rosa Bonheur became a prey to melancholy, and +her thoughts turned ceaselessly to the tender friend whom she had +lost forever. None the less, she continued to work with dogged energy, +quite as much to deaden her pain as to satisfy the ever increasing +orders. + +A great joy, however, came to her in the midst of her sorrow. +President Carnot, imitating the Emperor, came in person to bring her +the Cross of Officer of the Legion of Honour. She was keenly +appreciative of such a mark of high courtesy, which was at the same +time a well deserved recompense for an entire life consecrated to art. +Rosa Bonheur possessed a number of decorations, notably the Cross of +San Carlos of Mexico which was given her by the Empress Charlotte, the +Cross of Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, the Belgian +Cross of Leopold, the Cross of Saint James of Portugal, etc. The noble +artist accepted these distinctions gratefully, but was in no way vain +of them, for no woman was ever more simple or more modest than she. + +At about this epoch, she devoted herself for a time to pastel work, +and in 1897 exhibited four examples of ample dimensions and +representing various animals. The whole city of Paris flocked to this +exhibition and unanimously proclaimed her talent as a pastel painter. + +It was also about this time that she gained a new friend whose +devotion, although it did not make her forget her beloved Nathalie +Micas, at least in a measure softened the bitterness of her loss. A +young American, Miss Anna Klumpke, who was an enthusiastic admirer of +Rosa Bonheur, and who herself had some talent for painting, presented +herself one day at By and begged the favour of an interview with the +artist. The latter received her with her wonted graciousness. The +conversation turned upon art. The young girl emboldened, by her +hostess's kindness, ventured to ask if she might come to take a few +lessons, and at the same time showed a few sketches. Rosa Bonheur +examined them and discovered not merely promise, but what was better, +an unmistakable talent. She not only acquiesced to Miss Klumpke's +desire; she did even better, she offered the hospitality of her own +home. Miss Klumpke's visit, which was to have been for only a short +time, became permanent; a substantial friendship was formed between +the two women; it was Miss Anna Klumpke who closed the eyes of Rosa +Bonheur and who was her sole testamentary legatee. She has piously +preserved the memory of her benefactress and she has converted the +Chateau of By, which she still occupies, into a museum filled with +relics of the great artist. She has also published an admirable volume +upon the life and work of her eminent friend, that forms a veritable +monument of affectionate admiration. + +Rosa Bonheur was not slow in reverting again to painting and produced +her famous picture: _The Duel_, the celebrity of which was almost as +great as that of the _Horse Fair_ and _Ploughing in the Nivernais_. +The duel in question is between two stallions, and what adds to the +interest of the scene is that it is historic and perfectly familiar to +all the sporting men of England. It was a struggle in which an Arabian +thoroughbred, Godolphin-Arabian, overpowered Hobgoblin, another +thoroughbred of English breed. The mettle of these horses, fired by +the heat of battle, is interpreted in a masterly fashion. + +No less perfect is the canvas representing _The Threshing of the +Grain_, which it took Rosa Bonheur twenty years to bring to +completion. Over a field in which the sheaves of grain have been +strewn, eleven horses, drawn life-size, are driven at full gallop, +trampling the golden tassels under their powerful hoofs. The artist +has rarely attained the height of perfection to which this picture +bears witness. + +But at last we come to the close of her career. Rosa Bonheur was +seventy-seven years of age, but in the enjoyment of robust health; her +talent still retained its unvarying power and her hand was still +firm. Her age was not betrayed in any of her works, which had the +appearance of having been painted in the flood-tide of youth. Such is +the impression of critics before her painting, _A Cow and Bull in +Auvergne, Cantal Breed_, which, contrary to her habit, she sent to the +Salon. The praise was unanimous; they even talked of awarding her the +medal of honour which she refused in a letter of great beauty and +dignity. It seemed at that time that the artist would enjoy her robust +old age for a long time to come, when a congestion of the lungs +prostrated her suddenly and the end came in a few days. She died on +the 25th of May, 1899. + +The concert of regrets which greeted her death was touching in its +unanimity. Without a dissenting note, without reserve, the entire +press paid tribute to the dignity of her life, the nobility of her +character, the greatness of her talent. According to her desire, she +was interred in the cemetery of Père-Lachaise; and the cortège which +followed her coffin was made up of every eminent figure known to the +Parisian world of art and letters. Strangers came in throngs, +especially from England. And this innumerable cortège that followed +her bier testified more eloquently than any panegyric to the goodness +of this admirable artist who had been able to lead a long and glorious +career without creating a single enemy. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41939 *** |