1840 -1899 · Herd, grazing and pastoral observation

Happiness individualizes sheep, goats and shepherds within the herd: coat, terrain and behavior make pastoral life concrete without losing the scale of the landscape.

Rosa Bonheur constantly studies herding animals. Sheep and goats allow her to observe anatomy, coats and behaviors very different from those of horses or cattle. In a meadow, by the sea or on the Pyrenean slopes, she adapts the composition to movement, rest and guarding. The King of the herd isolates a male whose attitude and wool almost construct a portrait. The King of the herd isolates a male whose attitude and wool almost construct a portrait. Sheep and goats compare two species in the same group, while the goat's heads tighten the study on horns, eyes and bones. The Pyrenees Shepherd or the Landes Shepherd reminds us that the herd depends on human knowledge, an itinerary and an economy pastoral. Bonheur visits farms, markets and menageries, creates anatomical drawings and knows directly the animals she paints. Its scenes tend towards harmony, but the precision of the terrain, the breed and the behavior preserves their documentary character. The selection "Sheep, goats and shepherds of Rosa Bonheur" notably compares Herd of sheep by the sea and Landes Shepherd. His reading favors details.

At Bonheur, a herd is never a uniform mass: each head, each wool and each support responds to a place in the group.