Study for The Horse Fairc. 1850
A dozen horses circle in procession, some ridden and some led, sketched in greys and blacks in this oil study for Rosa Bonheur’s celebrated painting The Horse Fair. More about this work
About this work
A dozen horses circle in procession, some ridden and some led, sketched in greys and blacks in this oil study for Rosa Bonheur’s celebrated painting The Horse Fair. To prepare the huge canvas, Bonheur spent many months drawing at the Paris horse market, dressed in men’s clothing, for which she obtained police permission, so that she could work without attracting attention. Studies like this let her work out the movement and rhythm of the composition before tackling colour.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
A sketchy black-and-white oil painting of a dozen horses walking in a circle, some with riders. All of the figures are shadowy.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Rosa Bonheur
French, 1822–1899 · Born in Bordeaux; died in Thomery.
Bonheur trained with her father, the painter Raymond Bonheur, and studied animals closely in fields, markets and slaughterhouses, obtaining police permission to wear trousers for the purpose. The Horse Fair, shown at the Salon of 1853, brought her international fame, and she became the most celebrated woman artist of her day and the first to receive the Legion of Honour for her art. She lived and worked for decades at By, near Fontainebleau, in the commune of Thomery.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1977.3
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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More by Rosa Bonheur
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