Rosa Bonheur was celebrated because she was believed to be the best and most famous female painter of the 19th century.

Bonheur was widely regarded as the most famous female painter of the nineteenth century, and her illustrious career served as an inspiration to a subsequent generation of women working in the arts.

Why is Rosa Bonheur Famous?

Rosa Bonheur is famous because of her exceptionally artistic paintings and sculptures.

From 1841 to 1853, Bonheur’s fame as an animal painter and sculptor grew, with a lot of her works exhibited on the prestigious Paris Salon.

Bonheur’s first major achievement, Plowing in the Nivernais, was shown in 1849 and is currently at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

Her most renowned piece, The Horse Fair (1855), was eight feet high and sixteen feet wide. It portrays a horse market in Paris, on the tree-lined avenue de l’Hôpital, near the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital.

The National Gallery in London has a smaller replica. In the same year, she visited Scotland and met Queen Victoria, who appreciated Bonheur’s paintings. In Scotland, she sketched for subsequent works such as Highland Shepherd (1859) and A Scottish Raid (1860).

In these works, Scottish highlanders represented a way of life that had vanished a century before, appealing to Victorian sensibilities.

Bonheur’s art was shown in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago’s Palace of Fine Arts and The Woman’s Building.

Despite her popularity in England, Empress Eugénie awarded her the French Legion of Honour in 1865, and she was made an Officer in 1894. This was the first prize for a female artist.

Why is Google Celebrating Rosa Bonheur?

The Google doodle created in honor of Rosa Bonheur is a digital artwork that depicts the artist drawing sheep in a rural setting.

She was celebrated by Google because she was regarded as the best and most famous female painter of the nineteenth century.  Her illustrious career served as an inspiration to a subsequent generation of women working in the arts.