The Horse Fair depicts horse
The Horse Fair is an oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Rosa Bonheur, begun in 1852 and first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1853. The artist added some finishing touches in 1855. The large work measures 96.25 in × 199.5 in (244.5 cm × 506.7 cm).The painting depicts dealers selling horses at the horse market held on the Boulevard de l'Hôpital in Paris. The hospital of Salpêtrière can be seen in the left background.
The prime version of the painting has been in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1887, when it was donated by Cornelius Vanderbilt II. It is on view in Gallery 812.Exhibition
The painting was praised by the critics when it was first exhibited at the Paris Salon in May 1853.  Several commented on the masculine nature of the work.  Earlier, Bonheur had offered studies of two paintings to French Minister of Fine Arts Charles de Morny, Duke of Morny, for consideration of a state commission.  He selected the other work, Haymaking in the Auvergne, now held by the museum at the Château de Fontainebleau.  Bonheur rejected his attempt to change his mind after the 1853 exhibition.
The painting was subsequently shown in Ghent in 1853 and then in Bordeaux in 1854, but the city declined to buy it for FF 15,000.   It was sold to the British art dealer Ernest Gambart in 1854 for FF 40,000.   Bonheur added finishing touches in 1855.
It was shown at various locations during a tour of Britain in 1855 to 1857.  In London, the painting was shown in the home of Edwin Henry Landseer, the artist well known for his works on animals. Queen Victoria requested a private viewing at Buckingham Palace.  It was the most acclaimed of Bonheur's works, and is described by the Metropolitan Museum as one of its best-known works of art.
It was sold to cotton trader William Parkinson Wright in 1857 for FF 30,000, and then sold to Alexander Turney Stewart in 1866.  After the deaths of Stewart in 1876 and of his widow Cornelia in 1886, the painting was bought at auction by Cornelius Vanderbilt II for $53,000 in March 1887, and immediately donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
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