In 19th-century France, Rose Bonheur was utterly unique. An artist whose unparalleled animal portraits and scenes of rural life brought her international success and critical acclaim, here was a woman who shunned feminine pursuits, who brazenly wore trousers, whose most intimate relationships were with other women, and whose home constituted a menagerie where visitors might find anything from lions to polar bears. Made Chevalier, then Officer de la LeĢgion d'Honneur for the arts - France's highest order of civilian merit - Rosa's reputation seemed assured. But her happiness in later years was interrupted by tragedy before her artistic legacy gradually faded. Biographer Catherine Hewitt examines anew the life and career of a true one-off.
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