El Cid (1879) and Lionesses and Lions (after 1870) by Rosa Bonheur. Recorded on March 5, 2025

Rosa Bonheur (Bordeaux, 1822 - Thomery, 1899)

A French painter, sculptor, and illustrator, Rosa Bonheur specialized in rural and animal subjects. She trained alongside her father, the artist Raymond Bonheur, and in the workshop of Léon Cogniet. She submitted her works to the Paris Salons, earning a third-place medal in the 1845 edition and first place in the 1848 edition. Bonheur was a protégé of Queen Victoria of England, which led to numerous commissions from the English aristocracy. Her work shows an evolution from conventional and academic principles in her early canvases, influenced by Constant Troyon, to an Impressionist language in her later paintings.

The work’s title with its Spanish connection also evokes liberty, rebelliousness and courage; values that Bonheur expressed in her own life and through her depictions of animals, which became the principal subject of her work. The fifteen life studies, which demonstrate the artist’s ability to capture her subjects in a spontaneous manner and with striking economy of means, focus on their typical postures and on various anatomical details.

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