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The Horse Fair
The Horse Fair
The Horse Fair

The Horse Fair

Period1895
MediumCharcoal on paper
Dimensions18 × 36.5 in. (45.7 × 92.7 cm)
SignedSigned lower left, "H. T. Gulick / 1895."
ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Henry G. Gulick, 2017
Object number2017.2.4
DescriptionCharcoal drawing after Rosa Bonheur showing a large group of horses in an open area being corralled by several men on foot and horseback. In the center of the drawing, a black horse has reared up on its hind legs. Trees are depicted in the background. A group of people can be seen on a bank in the right distance.
NotesA large, ambitious exercise by Gulick in copying famous works of art in charcoal on paper. The Horse Fair is a renowned oil on canvas painting by French artist Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899). Begun in 1852, it was first exhibited in 1853 at the Paris Salon and reworked until completed in 1855. The monumental painting, which measures sixteen feet in width, has been in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1887, when it was donated by Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Bonheur is widely considered to have been the most famous female painter of the nineteenth century.