Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur was a pioneering 19th-century French artist renowned for her realist depictions of animals, especially horses. Born to a poor French painter, Bonheur’s eccentric lifestyle included dressing as a man and sketching at the Paris slaughterhouse.
Bonheur’s connection to the American West grew through her interest in Native American and frontier life. She collected works by George Catlin and later made sketches of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. Her works, such as Buffalo Hunt and Wyoming Stallion, reflect this fascination.
Raised in Bordeaux and Paris, she had no formal training but studied with her father. After his death, she and her sister ran an art school. Bonheur’s career flourished at the Paris Salon, where she received numerous accolades, including a gold medal in 1855 and the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur in 1865.