A new biography of the wildly unconventional 19th-century animal painter and gender equality pioneer Rosa Bonheur.
"In 19th-century France, Rosa Bonheur was utterly unique. Here was a woman who shunned feminine pursuits, rejected marriage and, shockingly, wore trousers - yet she became one of the most celebrated artists of the day for her unparalleled animal portraits and scenes of rural life. Her deeply unconventional living arrangements saw her sharing a home with her intimate friend Nathalie Micas (who nurtured the artist like a wife) and Nathalie's mother, along with an astonishing menagerie of animals. But for all the curiosity aroused by such eccentricities, it was an artist that Rosa was revered, attracting admirers at home and abroad, and becoming the first woman ever to be made Chevalier, then Officier de la Légion d'Honneur for the arts, France's highest civilian award. The new biography by the author of the acclaimed Renoir's Dancer and The Mistress of Paris, is an inspiring evocation of a life lived against the rules."--book jacket.
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