Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur, born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur (16 March 1822 – 25 May 1899), was a French artist, mostly a painter of animals (animalière) but also a sculptor, in a realist style. Her paintings include Ploughing in the Nivernais, first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1848, and now at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and The Horse Fair (in French: Le marché aux chevaux), which was exhibited at the Salon of 1853 (finished in 1855) and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City. Bonheur was widely considered to be the most famous female painter of the nineteenth century.
She first exhibited at the Salon of 1841 with two animal paintings. In subsequent years, she would also send in Sculptures she had made in the likeness of Sheep and bulls. In 1843 she won a third-class medal. She won a first-class medal in 1848 with Ploughing in the Nivernais. At the Salon of 1853, she exhibited The Horse Fair, which due to its popularity placed her as one of the foremost artists of her time. She was made a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur in 1865 and an Officer in 1894 (This is incredible since women were almost never admitted). She was also a Commander of the Order of Catholic Isabella and the Order of Leopold of Belgium. She was a great friend and protégée of Queen Victoria of England, making her art quite popular even among the British court.