Rosa Bonheur - an artist

Rosa Bonheur - an artist remembered If you were to ask who the most famous, highly paid artist of the 19th century was in France, the names Ingres, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne and Van Gogh would most likely be cited by most people. And they’d all be wrong. It was a female animal portraitist, Rosa Bonheur who held the no. 1 position. However, she fell into complete oblivion in the 20th century. Christina Mackenzie explores Rosa Bonheur’s extraordinary story – and how her art is being found by a new audience… Rosa Bonheur’s resuscitation as an artist over the past five years is entirely due to Katherine Brault and her family, who have single-handedly put the forgotten painter firmly back in the limelight. They didn’t set out to do so, but Brault, who had not heard of the artist previously, stumbled across Bonheur’s former home, the Château de By, whilst house-hunting in the Seine-et-Marne department. Returning Bonheur to her deserved place amongst the 19th century’s greatest artists has become her life’s work. The Château de By sits upstream from Paris atop the banks of the river Seine in the small town of Thomery. Thanks to Brault and her daughters, the château is now not only the Brault family home and the Rosa Bonheur museum, but also a very nice tea-room and guesthouse. Brault, nominated as one of the 100 Women of Culture 2022, is a native of Fontainebleau, some seven kilometres west of Thomery. In 2014, after working in communications, gastronomy, and coaching visual artists, Brault decided to return to her hometown in the wake of a divorce and establish “a cosy, multifunctional guest-house in a large 18th century house.” No such house was on the market, so an estate agent suggested she encompass 78 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 79