Rosa Bonheur, iconic French animal painter, on Google Doodle

Google Doodle: Rosa Bonheur is best known for painting and sculpting animals reputation and shot to fame in the 1840s.

Google Doodle on March 16 marks the 200th birth anniversary of Rosa Bonheur, the French painter whose successful career inspired a future generation of women in the arts.

The Doodle features a sketch of Bonheur painting sheep in the outdoors.

Born to a painter father on this day in France’s Bordeaux in 1822, Rosa Bonheur was trained by him. The minor landscape painter encouraged his daughter’s artistic talents and independence.

As is evident from the Google Doodle, Bonheur is best known for painting and sculpting animals reputation and shot to fame in the 1840s. The nature lover’s works were exhibited at the prestigious Paris Salon from 1841 to 1853. Her first exhibition at the Paris Salon was when she was 19.

The Art: paintings and sculptures like “The Horse Fair”

The Artist: Rosa Bonheur

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The Legacy: inspired a whole new generation of women artists

Here’s a #GoogleDoodle celebrating Rosa on her 200th birthday: https://t.co/YpIScUElNU. pic.twitter.com/Yr40k4BR5T

— Google India (@GoogleIndia) March 16, 2022

She regularly visited slaughterhouses and dissected animals to know about the anatomy of animals for her work.

Her best-known painting is “The Horse Fair” which depicts the horse market in Paris. This 1853 work on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

With a short hair and dressing style, she is known to have ‘dressed like a man’ in her times. “As far as males go, I only like the bulls I paint,” she had said.

She was the first woman artist to be awarded the Legion of Honour in 1865 and the first woman to become an Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1894.