Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1910-12-15
AFAM0US PICTURE
Rosa Bonheur's Stirring Master
piece, 1.-THE Horse Fair.'
A PRIZE THAT FRANCE LOST.
Tho Artists Native Land Permitted
tho Great Canvas to Find Homo In
This coantry-1Ihe Story Of tho
$ hitting Ind Its Replic.s.


This Countrywide Story Of tho
: hitting Ind Its Replic.s.
One Of the chief glories of tile Metro
politan museum In New ,iork is Rosa
! .allliell's s;itrin. masterpiece. THE
[.iorse Fair" picture viii, i for its
rrsistiUle movement anu living por-
ltl.it,ln' vi mans most useful friend
"s.s !; Unique position in the annals
{ arr an the affections of lovers OF
! .siiitiuaS
Few. however. are acquainted with
fat,r Intimate history of that notable.
canvas. and fewer still are aware that
there are no less than five horse fair
pictures In existence. The one In New
York. is the original and. 1t will he IT,
Iilemhercd. WAS first the property of \.
i. stewart and then purchased for the
Metropolitan Ivy Cornelius Vanderbilt
FOR 100000 francs
1t was painted in Paris. the models
llscd being the horses Of the Paris On
Eihus company and II few animals
Ftudiet Mt the horse market of the
French capital. 1t was first exhibited
Mt the salon of 1853. but went back to
The artist unsold
| \ part Of the further history OF the
famous painting is recorded by Ernest.
t;ambart in his manuscript memoirs,
which have been freely drawn upon
for the "Reminiscences Of Rosa Bon
hcur:''
In f,ln nf 10 IL.
salon The Horse Fair. was Entrusted
10 the Society of Artists Of Client for
exhibition In that town. where It had
II great success. but whence 1t also
nme back unsold. In the spring OF
Il>ol 1 expressed to Mile. Bonheur the
l'csirc to buy 1t from her. At that time
i, was in Bordeaux. her native town.
Ter preference was that the munlc
ipality should purchase 1t for the city
museum. and Il price of l2,OCO francs
| had been mentioned at which the town
authorities might acquire 1t. But she
said to me that II the canvas came
back to her again she would let me
have 1t However. she could not lot
| 1t 20 to England for less than 10000
| francs.
u mllesitatinsly accented the bar
gain. and II was agreed that the pic
ture should be mine unless sold to
Bordeaux. AS the picture was back
| In her studio again in the following
year. ! told Mile Bonhcur that
wished TO take it at once In order to
Lave 1T i'll my 1855 exhibition and that
! should like to have 1t engraved by
Thomas Lnndseer. the celebrated. en-
eraver and brother to the painter
'.She was delighted at the idea OF
the picture being engraved and said to
me: i have asked you 10000 francs
for my picture. although in France
tannot get 10000. and l am pleased Mt
Your consenting to my terms. On the
other hand. don't mean to take un-
due advantage Of your liberality. How
can we arrange matters? Let us see.
Well. the picture Is very large. and it
will be difficult to find place for it
in an engraver's studio. Besides, you
want to exhibit 1t. Wouldn't it be bet
ter for me to paint you smaller
copy?'
That suggestion she carried out aud
explains how the second canvas came
Into existence. That smaller copy was
1.-THE one from which Landseer's we'll
known steel engraving was made and
lis the picture which is in the British
National gallery.
When she heard that 1t had become
the property of the British nation
Mile. Bonheur decided to make third
copy, thinking the second was not
good enough for the London collection;
4 hence 1.-The Horse Fair No. 3. But
the National gallery authorities were
not able to accept the substitute, as
the painting which it was designed to
replace had been given to them as
trustees.
Besides these three, Mile. Bonheur
executed water color replica and Il
I drawing based on large photograph.
OF all these. however, the picture in
the Metropolitan is by far the finest
work. which is only us 1t should be in
view of the fact that the artist always
found her best public in America
This was recalled to her detrimcnt
when the rosette of the Legion of Hon
nr was requested in her behalf. "Shc
has ceased exhibiting at the salon. =
objected the president, land sells in
America everything she paints" The
complete answer to that was that the
French government had had the op-
portunity to buy The Horse Fair.