フランスのボルドーに生まれ、画家だった父から絵を学びました。牧場や市場に何度も通って動物をじっくり観察し、牛や馬、羊などを力強く描く動物画家になります。大作『馬市』で世界的に有名になり、男性中心だった美術界で大成功をおさめました。のちにフォンテーヌブローの森の近くの城に住み、たくさんの動物を飼いながら絵を描きつづけました。
Rosa Bonheur was born in Bordeaux, France, and learned to paint from her father, who was also an artist. She often visited farms and markets to study animals closely, and became famous for powerful pictures of cattle, horses and sheep. Her huge painting The Horse Fair made her known around the world, and she became a great success in an art world run by men. Later she lived in a château near the Forest of Fontainebleau, where she kept many animals and went on painting.
