# The Horse Fair

**Rosa Bonheur** (French, 1822–1899)  
1852–55  
Oil on canvas  
96 1/4 x 199 1/2 in. (244.5 x 506.7 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 87.25. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435702).

## About this work

Powerful Percheron horses rear, plunge and trot as their handlers struggle to control them at the Paris horse market, held on a tree-lined boulevard near the Salpêtrière hospital, whose dome appears in the distance. Rosa Bonheur, the most famous woman artist of her day, showed the huge canvas at the Salon of 1853 and continued to work on it afterwards. To study her subject she sketched at the market for many months, wearing men’s clothing, for which she had police permission. The procession of muscular horses has often been compared to the frieze of the Parthenon.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Rosa Bonheur painted this in 1852–55, aged about 30. It is now at The Met in New York.

### 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](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/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._

## Facts

- Type: Paintings
- The artist was about 30
- Real size: about 96 × 199 in (245 × 507 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 18 × 24 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: Men, Horses, Paris
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1062.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1062/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-horse-fair-met-435702).