Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1905-07-01


triously 10 work painting her fathers
domestic animals. consisting Of a large
, dog, cat aud an owl These pictures
we're 80 well done that she found q pur-
chaser for the three. who gave her a
hundred francs for them--a small for
tune to her youthful Imagination. These
pet animals we're reproduced, each time
being better aud better represented, un-
I'll she got a hundred francs for each.
Then she combined the three pets In one
picture showing a taste for grouping
that would have done credit to a much
older artist, and these pictures sold as
fast as she finished them. Miss Mischief
was improving daily. and no one real
lied the fact more clearly than her
father, who offered her all the instruc-
ton he was able to give her and aided
her in seeking further opportunity for
developing the genius which was in her.
He took her cften to the Louvre, where
she could see the grandest works of the
old masters and historical paintings
which fired her imagination and fasci-
mated her eye. But her taste and genius
had been erratic from the outset II was
not In the splendid halls of the Louvre
that she sought to study her art. but out
of doors. She was always at home with
nature, and loved to sketch among the
fields, the flowers and the domestic ami
mails. She watched the farmers in the
fields, and the oxen at work, the horses
on the boulevards, and purchased lamb
which ran about with her from morning
until night, and which she painted and
sold, on canvas, so times.
All this while the young schoolgirl
was developing into the young woman,
and in every picture she painted, always
from life, some decided improvement
was manifest over her previous efforts.
She loved her self-imposed task, and fol-
lowed it so closely, first in the minutest
observation of her subjects, and then in
the patient detail of reproducing it, that
she could not fail of success.
And thus the mischievous little girl !
who had been locked up in the school !
cellar to punish her for her roguery and /
disregard of all rules of propriety, had |
so improved in her chosen profession |
that in 184S Horace Vernet, then presi- |
dent of the Society of Fine Arts in Paris, |
pronounced her to be the first female ar
fist in France-he might have truthful
ly added in the world.
This was Rosa Bonheur.
Her pictures to-day grace the first gal
leries of the world, and command the
highest prices. They are more simple
and grand than elaborate, while her
touch is mastery, there being no trace
of a woman's hand in anything she
paints, She aspired to photograph ma
ture in colors, and her success was per-
feet
Rosa did not grow up to be handsome
woman, though she had fine brow and
very expressive and beautiful eyes; but !
the face as whole was rather harsh. |,
The hands and feet were Of the most |
petite character. She always wore her
hair short, and in many respects fol-
lowed the dress of the sterner sex; butin !
her manners she was refined and lady |
like.
In her frequent visits to the cattle
fairs and stockyards, where she selected |
her animal models, she always put on
male attire, and was invariably at
tended by two huge mastiffs, who could
make her respected, If necessary, by a
sign from their mistress.
One day when she was on her way to
visit the cattle market to make some
and dressed as a man, when her
maid came suddenly to her and an
bounced the illness of a dear lady friend
who lived hard by. Rosa fastened up to
lee her, and, throwing herself on the
bed, caressed the invalid Just at this
moment the doctor entered, and, horri-
led at what he saw, made hasty re-
reat.
For PHYS sake, Rosa" cried her
riend, hasten after him and explain!"
"Oh, it's no matter" she replied.
"Ah, but he's the greatest gossip liv-
ng, and will spread the report that re-
GIVE visits from lovers, and all sorts
# horrors"
So Rosa fastened after the doctor, but
ound it not so easy to convince him who
he was.
Such is a glance at the romantic his
DRY Of the most famous female artist
f the world.-N Y. Weekly.