Google Doodle, Today marks the 200th birthday of French painter Rosa Bonheur, whose successful career inspired a future generation of female artists. The doodle for today is a moving image of Rosa Bonheur painting a flock of sheep on canvas.
Rosa Bonheur was born in Bordeaux, France on this day in 1822. Her father, a minor landscape painter, aided her early artistic education. Although her ambitions for a career in the arts were unusual for a woman at the time, Bonheur closely followed the evolution of artistic traditions through years of careful study and sketching before immortalising them on canvas.
From 1841 to 1853, Bonheur’s reputation as an animal painter and sculptor grew, with many of her works exhibited at the prestigious Paris Salon. Scholars believe her professional career began with an 1849 exhibition of “Plowing in Nivernais,” a government commission now housed in France’s Musee Nationale du Chateau de Fontainebleau.
Bonheur achieved international acclaim in 1853 with her painting “The Horse Fair,” which depicted the Paris horse market. This painting, her most well-known work, is still on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 1865, the French Empress Eugenie bestowed the Legion of Honor, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards, on Rosa Bonheur in recognition of this celebrated painting.
