Art is a tyrant : the unconventional life of Rosa Bonheur / Catherine Hewitt.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

In 19th-century France, Rose Bonheur was utterly unique. An artist whose unparalleled animal portraits and scenes of rural life brought her international success and critical acclaim, here was a woman who shunned feminine pursuits, who brazenly wore trousers, whose most intimate relationships were with other women, and whose home constituted a menagerie where visitors might find anything from lions to polar bears. Made Chevalier, then Officer de la Légion d'Honneur for the arts - France's highest order of civilian merit - Rosa's reputation seemed assured. But her happiness in later years was interrupted by tragedy before her artistic legacy gradually faded. Biographer Catherine Hewitt examines anew the life and career of a true one-off