year she exhibited the picture that may be said to
have made her reputation with the artists and amateurs, as well as
with the general public. This was her "Oxen of Cantal," a picture that
combined with no little feeling for landscape the most admirable
painting of cattle in repose. Its high qualities were immediately
recognized. Horace Vernet, in the name of the Provisional Government,
presented her with a handsome vase of Sevres porcelain, and the gold
medal for painting. In 1851, the jury selected for exhibition at the
World's Fair in London another picture by Rosa, "Ploughing in the
Nivernais," which made the artist's name known to England, where the
national love of animals secured for her no end of praise and of
substantial reward. In 1856 Rosa painted her most popular picture,
"The Horse Fair," now in the Metropolitan Museum. This painting went
from Paris to London, where it was bought for rising L1,500, and
created such an interest in the artist's personality as would have
turned the head of any ordinary woman; but Rosa Bonheur's whole life
proves her no ordinary woman.

For many years Mlle. Bonheur lived in Paris in a house surrounded by a
large garden where she kept a number of animals, partly for the
pleasure of their companionship, partly for the opportunity it gave
her of studying their habits, and using them as models. She now
resides in the Chateau By, near Fontainebleau, where she leads the
same industrious life in her advancing years that she did in the
beginning of her career. She rises early, and works at her painting
all day, and often spends the evening in drawing: for she takes but
little interest in what is called society, and cares only for the
companionship of her intimate friends, which she can enjoy without
disarranging her life, or neglecting the studies she loves. She
dresses with great simplicity at all times, and even when she accepts
invitations, makes no concessions to the caprices of fashion. In her
student-days, when visiting the abattoirs, markets, and fairs, she
accustomed herself to wear such a modification of man's dress as would
permit her to move about among rough men without compromising her sex.
But, beside that her dignity was always safe in her own keeping, she
bears testimony to the good manners and the good dispositions of the
men she came in contact with. Rosa Bonheur has always been an honor to
art and an honor to her sex. At seventy-two she finds herself in the
enjoyme