The horse fair

Rosa Bonheur, original name Marie-Rosalie Bonheur (born March 16, 1822, Bordeaux, France; died May 25, 1899, Chateau de By, near Fontainebleau), French painter and sculptor famous for remarkable precision and detail of his photographs. the animals Toward the end of his career, these qualities were accentuated by a lighter palette and the use of a highly polished surface finish.

Rosa Bonheur became a commercially successful painter at a time and place when few women were successful in their artistic careers. Nineteenth-century Europeans considered art to be a lady's pastime in her home, but due to her father's training and influences, Bonheur approached her artistic work as her profession.

Bonheur devoted himself to the study of draft horses at the dusty Paris wild horse market twice a week between 1850 and 1851, where he made endless sketches, some simple line drawings and others in great detail. His ability to capture the raw power, beauty and strength of untamed animals in motion is magnificently displayed in this dramatic scene. In arriving at the final scheme, the artist was inspired by George Stubbs, Theodore Gericault, Eugène Delacroix and ancient Greek sculpture: she herself referred to the Horse Fair as her own "Parthenon frieze". The Parthenon featured rows of twisted horses in muscular, sculpted relief.

The masterful handling of movement and the whirlwind of darkness and light surrounding the crushing, unruly beasts controlled by calm, masterful handlers draws the viewer into the energy and action of the scene. Bonheur again uses a strong diagonal line in the composition where the brooding sky meets the treetops. On the far right, potential buyers calmly watch the controlled frenzy from the safety of a forested hillside. The extremely active midpoint is balanced by the simplicity of the foreground and the atmospheric perspective in the background, where we see the outline of the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital. Although some critics described this work as purely an exercise in academic mastery, it is also clear that the artist is an intense observer of animal and human psychology.