Sheep by the Sea
| Support Type: | Canvas |
| Paint Type: | Oil Paint |
| Current Location: | National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., United States. |
| Location History: | Rosa Bonheur created Sheep by the Sea in 1865, drawing on her observations of the Scottish Highlands, which she had visited during the summer of 1855. The precise place where she painted this particular panel has not been established by the museum record, so it is safer to describe Scotland as an important source of inspiration rather than claim the painting was made there. The work was commissioned by Empress Eugénie of France and exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1867 before it entered Bonheur's collection. It was later exhibited at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris in 1897. The painting eventually became part of the collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., through a gift from Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. |
Sheep by the Sea is an oil on canvas landscape painting created in 1865 by the French artist Rosa Bonheur. It features small flock of sheep resting on a grassy area by the sea. Three sheep are depicted in the foreground of the image: two adult sheep sit shoulder to shoulder with a lamb resting in front of them; the soft fur of their thick wool coats is painted with a clear textural effect, contrasting with the lush grass beneath their feet; in the distance, a second flock rests near the edge of the land, separating the foreground and the background. Composition rises to the sea, where it breaks against the rocks, dark on the left. A loose line, nearly horizontal, divides the blue-green waters from the pale sky, creating a wide sense of openness and stability in the painting. The sky is covered with gentle clouds, and streaks of green grass and tiny blue and red flowers add colour to the rough land. Bonheur applies browns and greens from the earth, golden and sienna to the sheep, and cool blue and grey to the water and sky. The palette is balanced so that neither element overpowers the others. What is striking is how the motion of the sea seems to contrast with the stillness of the animals. The sheep look happy and content and have settled into the landscape, while the waves threaten to overwhelm the sheep with a slow unstoppable force. Bonheur's dense impasto adds a physical texture to the wool and the plants. The scene is deceptively simple, and the way she has composed the animals suggests she studied their body structure and behaviour carefully. Instead of humanising the animals by imagining them in a story, she made them part of the landscape in which they belong. The painting is a peaceful one that finds delight in animal life and the natural world.