Page:Woman in Art.djvu/108

WOMAN IN ART monarchial interval, and all paintings sent in were accepted—when we consider this, we realize how splendid and satisfying was her work to such artists as Horace Vernet, Delacroix, Corot, Meissonier, Jules Dupre, and Isabey.

Though very quiet in her taste, not caring for ostentation in any form, the bestowal of the medal was an honor prized by the artist; but soon she received from the state a beautiful Sevres vase and an order for a painting. To fill that order Rosa Bonheur gave the world the picture now so familiarly known, "Plowing in the Nevernais." Those are splendid oxen, doing the work they were made for, breaking the hard fallow ground for a crop. Their legs well set on the body, and the feet in the furrow, show the muscular strain and action perfect to the life. She made long and careful studies for the painting, working in the fields from dawn till dark, her friend Natalie being always with her.

She was but twenty-three when "The Haymakers" was exhibited at the Salon of 1849, shortly before the death of her father, and her success was a great satisfaction to them both. It was purchased by the state for the Luxembourg, but at the celebration of the centenary of the artist's birth (1922) it was placed in the Louvre. Said a writer of about that time: "This painting it was that won for her the first medal, the report declaring that the artist in this case could not be decorated." Why? Because she was a woman!

Ten years later—and in that ten years many a noted canvas had been exhibited and sold—a carriage stopped at the embowered Chateau at By, her home on the edge of Fontainebleau Forest, and a lady entered the studio of the now illustrious artist. "As Rosa Bonheur arose from her easel to greet her guest, the Empress Eugénie fastened the red button on her blouse, that created her Chevaliére of the Legion of Honor, and as such greeted her with a kiss, delayed a few moments, and was gone." Then did the woman artist realize that the woman sovereign had pinned the Cross of the Legion of Honor on her working blouse. The Emperor had been hesitating to confer a decoration on a woman when the Empress, having during his absence been left Regent, drove from Fontainebleau nearby and in its bestowal by her hand added to its value.

Mme. Vigee-Lebrun had been admitted to the French Academy eighty years before, but was not decorated, and no woman since has been given the honor.

The next order Rosa Bonheur received from the government was through the Minister of the Interior. The Marquis de Morny sent for her, requesting that she bring her portfolios that they might together discuss the subject.

For some time the artist had been studying horses, having in mind for a 82