Head of Roebuck

In this painting, Rosa Bonheur (French) draws close to her subject, a reddish-brown European stag. She plays with tonal qualities as she places the head of the animal in front of a dark background. The painting is simple, but powerful; her attention to detail and tight, painterly brushstrokes allow the viewer to study the roebuck as if it were a specimen. Drawing in this closely to the deer, Bonheur conveys the feeling that we are looking at a portrait.

Signed and dated (illegible, possibly 1845) in the upper-righthand corner.

Purchased from William Schaus in 1901.

Bonheur was born in 1822 in Bordeaux, and moved seven years later to Paris. Her parents believed in women’s education, and she received her art training from her father, landscape painter Raymond Bonheur. She was unconventional in her ambitions and personal life — for instance, Bonheur was the first Parisian woman to get police permission to dress as a man (to wear pants) within the city limits. It was a practice she defended as necessary for her study of animals at slaughterhouses and animal fairs. Bonheur was traditional in her working method. She studied her subjects carefully and produced many preparatory sketches before putting paint to canvas.

Bonheur’s reputation for unusually realistic depictions of animals grew steadily in the 1840s, and she exhibited her animal paintings and sculptures regularly at the Paris Salon, which favored traditional work, from 1841 to 1853. In 1845, Bonheur won a third prize at the Salon, and in 1848, a gold medal.