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| THE OVERTHROW - This painting by Rosa Bonheur,
was exhibited in the French section of the Art Palace, and is possibly also called
"Cows and Sheep in a Narrow Road." It is one of the works which
placed its author at the head of the woman painters of her time, and
takes rank with her "Horse Fair" and "Three Musketeers." Rosa
Bonheur, whose great fame rests on her success in portraying the
domestic animals, was born at Bordeaux, France, in 1822, and was the
pupil of her father, who taught all of his three children, Rosa,
Auguste, and Isidore, the sculptor, how to become famous. At an
early age, like Kemeys and Proctor, whose works adorned the bridges of Jackson Park, Rosa learned that
the animals themselves were the only models that the true artist
needed. Against the art-canons of her day, she labored to outline
the uncomely cattle of France as they appeared in nature, and
although the critics might be slow to praise her, the people were as
swift to express their pleasure. Thereupon, as is usual, the Supreme
Court of Criticism reviewed its rulings, reversed its decision, and
in 1850, crowned her painting of "The Nivernais Ploughing" with the
full approval of the world of art. This painting, her masterpiece,
now hangs in the gallery of the Luxembourg, in the southern part of
Paris. The paintings of Rosa Bonheur are French. She is not a
Raphael; her cattle are not universal cattle, but French cattle.
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