Anna Elizabeth Klumpke, Rosa Bonheur
01 Paintings, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, with Footnotes. #54
Rosa Bonheur, c. 1898
Oil on canvas
117.2 cm (46.1 in); Width: 98.1 cm (38.6 in)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The work depicts Klumpke’s companion, painter Rosa Bonheur. Klumpke was also a biographer for Bonheur’s life and work. Bonheur is depicted sitting at her easel and wearing her medal of the Legion of Honor. Bonheur is wearing a “long frogged coat” and a stiff white collar. In her hand is a drawing and on the easel is the beginning of a painting of three horses. More on this painting
Rosa Bonheur, born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur, (16 March 1822–25 May 1899) was a French artist, an animalière (painter of animals) and sculptor, known for her artistic realism. Bonheur was widely considered to be the most famous female painter during the nineteenth century.
Bonheur was born on 16 March 1822 in Bordeaux, Gironde, the oldest child in a family of artists. Her father was a landscape and portrait painter who encouraged his daughter’s artistic talents. By the time Bonheur was in her teens, her talent for sketching live animals had manifested itself, and — rejecting training as a seamstress — she began studying animal motion and forms.
Her sketching visits took her to public places that were largely the domain of men, as well as her work in the studio, prompted her by at least the early 1850s to eschew traditional female clothing for the trousers and loose blouse of a male peasant. She obtained police authorization to dress as she did (1852).
She had two female partners in her lifetime; the first, Nathalie Micas, she grew up with and then lived with for forty years and the second, Anna Elizabeth Klumpke, came into her life after the death of her first partner. More on Rosa Bonheur
Anna Elizabeth Klumpke (October 28, 1856 — February 9, 1942), was an American portrait and genre painter born in San Francisco, California, United States. She is perhaps best known for her portraits of famous women including Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1889) and Rosa Bonheur (1898).
Anna studied art at home, and in October 1877, moved with her family once more to Paris, where she was later enrolled in the Julian Academy (1883–1884). She spent many an hour copying paintings in the Musée du Luxembourg. She presented her first work at the Paris Salon in 1884, while still at the Academy, and she won the grand prize for outstanding student of the year. After completing her studies, she returned to the United States for a few years and taught in Boston. However, by 1889, she was back in Paris.
Intent on painting Bonheur’s portrait, she met Rosa Bonheur on October 15, 1889, under the pretext of being the interpreter for a horse dealer. The two women were soon living together at Bonheur’s estate in Thomery, near Fontainebleau, and their relationship endured until Bonheur’s death in 1899.
In 1940, at the age of 84, Klumpke published her own autobiography Memoirs of an Artist. She died in 1942 at the age of 86 years in her native San Francisco.[7] A memorial to her is at Neptune Society Columbarium, San Francisco, and she is buried alongside Rosa Bonheur at Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. More on Anna Elizabeth Klumpke
Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, And visit my Boards on Pinterest
Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright
I don’t own any of these images — credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.
I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.
If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.
Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.