Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011109Return from the Horse Fair
by Rosa Bonheur
About the Artwork
Rosa Bonheur was the first woman artist to receive the Cross of the French Legion of Honor, a French civilian and military decoration. She achieved great official and commercial success, especially for her carefully finished and naturalistic paintings of animals. This watercolor displays Bonheur's technical mastery and her close study of anatomy, as well as her appreciation for the natural beauty of the horses. The animals are arranged in a shallow frieze across the long composition, and their manicured tails, along with the riders' costumes and the finely-wrought iron fence, identify them as stock from the historic national breeding stables.
Provenance
1940: (Christie, Manson & Wood, London, June 28, 1940, no. 3, sold to Gooden and Fox, London) 1940-?: (Gooden and Fox, London) ?-1955: Estate of Sir Jeremiah Colman [1859-1942], London 1955: (Christie, Manson, & Wood, London, Colman estate sale, Mar. 25, 1955, no. 2) ?-?: Hentzl, sold to Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, New York ?-1976: Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge [1882-1973], New York 1976: (Parke-Bernet, New York, May 14, 1976, no. 22, sold to the Shepherd Gallery) 1976-1977: (Shepherd Gallery, New York, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH) 1977-2008: Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH 2008-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Rosa Bonheur (French, 1822–1899)
- Date
- 1873
- Medium
- watercolor and gouache over graphite
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 25.9 x 56.7 cm (10 3/16 x 22 5/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Muriel Butkin
- Accession no.
- 2008.410
More by Rosa Bonheur in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011109
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