Tuesday 20th February 2024 at 10.45am

Lecturer: Lois Oliver

French painter Rosa Bonheur had an extraordinary gift for painting animals that brought her international fame and recognition and in 1865 she was awarded the Légion d’Honneur, Defying convention, Bonheur obtained official permission to wear men’s clothing, so that she could study animal anatomy in the male-only spaces of livestock sales. Her painting ‘The Horse Fair’ was so famous that Queen Victoria requested a private viewing at Buckingham Palace.