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    242 ROSA "BONHKUR.

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    -Afta— At The Southern End Of The Rue D'...

    Rosa Bonheur is an indefatigable "worker . She rises at six o'clock and aints until duskwhen she lays aside her blouse _, puts

    on a bonnet p and shawl of , xnost unfashionable appearance , and takes a turn through the neighbouring streets aloneor accompanied

    , unconscious only by a favorite of everything dog . around Absorbed her in . the her first own concep thoug tion hts , of and a

    , picture is frequently struck out by her in these rapid , solitary walks in the twiliht .

    Living solel g y for her art , she has gladly resigned the cares of her outward existence to an old and devoted friendMadame Micas ,

    , a widow lady , who with her daughter—an artist , whose exquisite groups of birds are well known in England , and who has been

    for many years Rosa ' s most intimate companion—resides with her , relieving her of every material responsibilityand leaving her free

    , to devote herself exclusively to her favorite pursuit . Every summer the two lady artists repair to some mountain-district to sketch .

    Arrived at the regions inhabited only by the Chamois , the ladies exchange their feminine habiliments for masculine attireand spend a

    , couple of months in exploring the wildest recesses of the hills , courting the acquaintance of their shy and swiffc-footed truantsand harvesting

    , " effects " of storm , rain , and vapour , as assiduously as those of sunshine . Though Rosa is fully alive to the beauties of wood and meadow

    —as we know from the loveliness she has transferred from them to her canvass—mountain scenery is her especial delight . Hitherto

    her explorations had been confined to the French chains , and the Pbut in the autumn of fifty-six she visited Scotland and

    made yrenees numerous , sketchesin the neihbourhood of Glenfallock Glencoeand Ballaculish ; , and struck by g the beauty of the Highland ,

    cattle , selected , some choice specimens of these , which she had sent down to Wexham Rectory , near Windsor , where she resided , and

    spent two months in making numerous studies , from which she has already produced two pictures , — " The Denizens of the Mountains , "

    and " Morning in the Highlands . " The Alps she has not yet visited , though constantly intending to do so . Her preference

    being for the stern , the abrupt , and the majestic , instead of the soft , the smiling , and the fair , Italy , with all its glories ,

    has hitherto attracted her less powerfully than the ruder magnificence of the Pyrenees and the north . -

    Among mountains , the great artist is completely in her element ; out of doors from morning till night , lodging in the humblest and

    remotest- of roadside hotels , or in the huts of wood-cutters , charcoalburners , and chamois-hunters , and living contentedly on whatever

    fare can be obtained . Two years ago , being furnished by families of distinction in the Bearnais and the Basque provinceswith

    intro-, ductions to the rare inhabitants of the region , the party pushed their adventurous wanderings to the little station of Peyronere

    , the last inhabited point within the French , frontier , and thence up

    the romantic defiles of the Vallee d'Urdos , across the summit of the

    242 Rosa "Bonhkur.

    242 ROSA " BONHKUR .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1858, page 242, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061858/page/26/