plowing? How are these oxen geared together? How many oxen usually
draw one plow? Why do you think they use so many in the field? With
what part of the body do the oxen pull the plow? Why is the earth
plowed? How can you tell that the soil these men are plowing is moist
and fertile? In what direction is the sun? (Look at the shadows.) How
is the driver urging the oxen on? Where is the farm house? What do you
consider most interesting about the oxen?
=Original Picture:= Luxembourg Gallery, Paris, France.
=Artist:= Rosa Bonheur (b[+o]'nur'').
=Birthplace:= Bordeaux, France.
=Dates:= Born, 1822; died, 1899.
=The story of the picture.= It must have been very early in the
morning indeed when these men and their oxen started to plow this
great field, for although the sun is still low in the sky, each group
of oxen has already plowed two furrows. By those long shadows and the
light in the sky we know the sun cannot be very high in the heavens,
and there is that about the ground, the occupation, and the distant
trees that suggests the season, spring.
We are told that Rosa Bonheur went out into the country to paint this
picture, and that she had a small shed made into a studio where she
could keep her canvas and paints. Every evening when she came home her
father would ask anxiously about the picture, for he was not well
enough to go to see it and he knew Rosa was working very hard on it.
Even her genius could not make it possible for her to paint such a
picture as this without much preparation. In fact, she had been
preparing for it for years,--as far back as when she made her first
drawing of oxen, and then later when she went to the packing houses
and made separate studies of each part of an ox. She knew just how
those great muscles did their work, and just how the curving ribs and
the joints did their part. In this picture she shows us just enough of
their movements to make us feel the great strength and power of those
patient animals.
Our wonder grows anew that even one such powerful ox can be controlled
by man's will. It is plain to see that the ox nearest us, of the
middle pair, does resent the prodding with the stick which the driver
uses so vigorously. His great eye rolls and he looks indignant, but
it is only for the moment--he accepts all with resignation and
indifference, knowing that it will be the turn of one of the other
oxen next. These oxen are geared together by a central pole which is
fastened to their horns. This causes them to take the entire weight of
the plow with their horns instead of with their shoulders as our
horses do. It would seem to be a most uncomfortable arrangement, yet
they are used to it.
The leaders must be chosen very carefully if the farmer would have a
straight furrow. It seems as if these first two oxen in the picture
feel the responsibility, and are glad and willing to do their part.
There is a look of intelligence about them that makes us certain that
they know and understand the worth of the thing they are doing.
Oxen in our country are driven by the words "gee," meaning turn to the
right, and "haw," turn to the left. However, the drivers in this
picture would not use these words, for they are Frenchmen, and would
speak to them in their own language.
It is easy to tell that the ground is soft by the way the feet of the
oxen sink down into it, and by the man's wooden shoe which has half
slipped off his foot as he starts to lift it from the ground. On this
quiet, peaceful morning we can almost hear the heavy tread of the
oxen as they pass us, and the harsh call of the drivers as they urge
them on. In imagination we can smell the freshly plowed earth. To be
sure, it is a hard pull up the hill, but how cheerfully, even proudly,
the oxen pull their load! Look at their backs; you will see a slanting
line which emphasizes the fact that they are climbing a hill. This
line is broken somewhat by the slant of the woods in the distance.
Cover up these distant woods with the hand or a piece of paper and we
immediately have the uncomfortable feeling that the oxen are going to
slip back out of the picture.
In this picture the artist has portrayed the intelligent use man makes
of the power and strength of animals and of the soil. We see so few
oxen now that we wonder why they were so much used in those days; but
of course we know it was because the farmers did not have the
machinery for tilling the ground, sowing, and planting grain that we
have. Horses were used also, but oxen were cheaper, so all could
afford them. Then, too, oxen may have been chosen because of their
superior strength, steadiness, and patience.
The artist has centered our attention on the nearest of the two first
pairs of oxen. The other oxen and driver are of secondary importance
and the landscape itself last of all. The artist has accomplished this
by color, light, and shade, and by a more careful treatment of the
nearest oxen, showing plainly their intelligent eyes, wrinkled hides,
and even the play of muscles as they step forward, pulling their heavy
load.
Rosa Bonheur finished this painting only a short time before her father
died. As soon as he saw it he knew that his daughter had painted a
masterpiece, and almost his last words were in praise of her work.
=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= Why do you think
these men and oxen must have started to work very early? Why do you
think it is still early? What time of year do you think it is? why?
Where did Rosa Bonheur paint this picture? Where did she keep her
canvas and paints? What preparation did she make before painting the
picture? What is the driver doing? In what humor does the nearest ox
seem to be? How are the oxen geared together? Why must they have good
leaders? How are oxen driven? Why do you think these drivers would not
use the same words that we should? How can you tell that the ground is
soft? Do you think the oxen are pulling hard? Why did they use oxen so
much in those days? What are used now? Upon which of the oxen has the
artist centered our attention? What is next in importance? last of
all? How has the artist done this? What did Rosa Bonheur's father
think of this picture?
=To the Teacher:=
SUBJECTS FOR COMPOSITIONS
The Picture and What It Represents.
How This Picture Was Painted.
What I Would Consider Most Important in a Picture.
Why I Like This Picture.
Rosa Bonheur as a Little Girl.
Rosa Bonheur as an Artist.
=The story of the artist.= Marie Rosalie Bonheur spent the first ten
years of her life in a little country town. It was almost as good as
living in the country, for Rosa and her two brothers spent most of
their time in the woods or fields. At home they had lambs, rabbits,
and squirrels for pets.
The father was an artist, and since he could not sell many pictures in
such a little village he decided to move to the great city of Paris. The
children liked the gay city with its many surprises, but they missed the
woods and their pets. The first place in which they lived was up several
flights of stairs and across the street from a butcher's shop. This shop
had a queer sign. It was a wild boar roughly carved out of wood, but it
looked so much like the little pet pig Rosa had in the country that she
used to stop and pet it every time she passed that way.
A man who lived in the same house with the Bonheur family kept a small
school for boys. Rosa's two brothers went to this school, and after a
while the teacher said Rosa might come too. She was the only girl in
the school, but she did not mind that at all. The boys were glad to
have her with them, for she knew more games than they did and played
just like one of them.
Her father did not do so well with his painting as he had hoped, so
they moved into a cheaper house. It was here that Rosa's mother died.
The father was obliged to send his children where they could be well
cared for, so the baby daughter, Juliette, was sent to her
grandmother, the two boys to school, and Rosa went to live with an
aunt. This aunt sent her to school. To reach the schoolhouse Rosa had
to walk some distance through the woods. Sometimes she would stop and
smooth the dust in the road with her hand and then draw pictures in it
with a stick. Even then she liked to draw pictures of animals best of
all. Often she had such a good time drawing that she forgot to go to
school, or was very late, so she did not get along very well and was
delighted when her father came to take her home. He had married again
and wanted all his children with him. How happy they were!
A great many stories have been told about the pets they kept in their
house. Rosa's brother Isidore carried a little lamb on his shoulders
down six flights of stairs every morning and evening, that it might
nibble the green grass and be out in the fresh air. It became a great
pet, and all the children drew its picture in ever so many different
positions. Besides, they had a parrot, a monkey, two dogs, and some
rabbits and birds for pets. Their father let them keep these pets in a
room fitted especially for them.
The father taught in a private school at that time, and was away from
home all day, but when he came home at night Rosa would show him what
she had been doing while he was gone. Once she had been painting
cherries, and her father came home while she was at work on them. He
praised her very much and helped her finish painting them.
In the evening Rosa, her two brothers, and her father used to put
their easels in different parts of the big room and draw and paint
until it was quite late. They would all much rather do this than
anything else in the world, and it was the only time their father
could help them.
The father belonged to a religious order called the "Saint Simonians."
The members wore queer gowns and bonnets with long tassels. Such a
bonnet with a big tassel Rosa wore on the street, and sometimes boys
shouted and laughed at her, but she paid no attention to that.
The father secured a teaching position in another private school and
earned enough money to send his three children there and give them all
they needed at home.
Rosa did not behave very well in school. Often she was punished,
sometimes by being given nothing to eat but bread and water. Every one
liked her, however, for she was good-hearted, kind, and full of fun.
But finally she did something that could not be overlooked. This is
what she did. The lady who kept the school was very fond of flowers,
and above all she loved the stately hollyhocks. She had a beautiful
bed of them in the front yard of the school that was very much admired
by all who passed. One day Rosa had been reading in the history about
war, and she thought it would be fine fun to arrange a battle between
the school girls. They used wooden sticks for swords. Very soon the
girls on Rosa's side drove their enemies toward the hollyhock bed,
where they turned and fled. Seeing the hollyhocks standing guard like
soldiers, Rosa thought it would be fun to charge upon them, which she
did, cutting off all their heads with her stick. Is it any wonder she
was sent home in disgrace?
Her father then sent her to a dressmaker to see if she could learn
that trade, but Rosa did not like dressmaking and finally went home
without having learned very much. Then some friends gave her some
photographs to color. This she liked to do, so her father decided that
the only thing to do was to let her paint.
Rosa was willing to walk miles in all kinds of weather, to sit hours
in all kinds of uncomfortable positions, and to go without food in
order to draw a good picture of some animal. Now she began her study
of animals in earnest. She went to all the country horse fairs, to the
slaughter houses, and wherever there was an opportunity to study them.
Rosa never had very pretty clothes. She tells us herself that one day
a parrot called after her "Ha, ha! That hat!" Now that she was grown
up she found she could not get about very easily in her long skirts.
There were so many rough men in the packing houses and in other places
where she must go to study that she obtained a permit to wear men's
clothing. Her hair was short, anyway, and with her blue working blouse
and dark trousers she looked just like a man. Then no one noticed her
as she went about, for they thought her one of the workmen. People who
knew her did not mind her dress, and were ready to help her as much as
they could in her work. The first picture she exhibited was of some
little rabbits nibbling carrots.
Her pictures became famous the world over. From all over the country
she received gifts of fine horses and other animals to paint. Buffalo
Bill once sent her two fine horses from Texas. She bought a farm, and
had a very large barn built where she could keep her animals.
How proud her father was of her!
One day she was working hard in her studio when a servant came to tell
her that the Empress Eugenie had come to see her. It was a great event
when this royal lady came to the artist's studio; and there was Rosa
dressed in her old blue blouse covered with paint! She did not have
time even to slip it off before the empress came in, but they had a
most delightful visit. As the Empress Eugenie bent over and kissed
Rosa Bonheur, she pinned the Cross of the Legion of Honor on the
artist's blue blouse. Rosa did not notice it until after the Empress
was gone. How pleased she must have been, for she was the first woman
to receive that honor.
=Questions about the artist.= What is the artist's full name? Where
did she live the first ten years of her life? What did the father do
for a living? Why did they move to the city? How did the children like
this change? In what kind of a house did they live? Tell about Rosa
and the wild boar; the school for boys. Why did they move? What became
of the children after their mother died? Why was Rosa often late to
school? Who came to take her home? Tell about the new home and the
pets; Isidore and the lamb. How did they all spend their evenings?
Tell about the "Saint Simon" bonnet. How did Rosa behave at the
private school? Tell about Rosa and the hollyhocks. How was she
punished? What trade did her father wish her to learn? What was she
willing to do in order to paint pictures? Where did she go to study
animals? How did she dress? Why did she dress like a man? What
presents did she receive? Where did she keep them? Tell about the
visit of the Empress Eugenie. How did she honor Rosa Bonheur?
THE SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
=Studying the picture.= Several days before the lesson is to be taken
up, the picture to be studied should be placed where every pupil can
see it.
First of all, the children should find out for themselves what is in
the picture. The questions accompanying the story of each picture are
intended to help them to do this.
=Language work.= The pupils should be encouraged in class to talk
freely and naturally. In this way the lesson becomes a language
exercise in which the pupils will gain in freedom of expression and in
the ability to form clear mental images.
If a lesson does not occupy the entire drawing period, the children
should be asked to retell the story of the picture.
=Dramatization and drawing.= Most of the stories told by the pictures
lend themselves readily to dramatization and, whenever practicable,
such stories should be acted out. The stories also offer numerous
interesting situations that may be used as subjects for drawing
lessons.
=The review lesson.= The review lesson should cover all pictures and
artists studied throughout the year. At this time other pictures
available, by the same artists should be on exhibition.
The review work may be conducted as a contest in which the pictures
are held up, one at a time, while the class writes the name of the
picture and the artist on slips of paper which have been prepared and
numbered for that purpose. One teacher who used this device surprised
her class by presenting those whose lists were correct with their
choice of any of the large-sized Perry pictures studied.
Many teachers, however, will prefer to use this time for composition
work, although the description of pictures is often given as an
English lesson. Pupils may write a description of their favorite
picture. In fact, the lessons can be made to correlate with history,
geography, English, spelling, reading, or nature study.
In any event the real purpose of the work is that the pupils shall
become so familiar with the pictures that they will recognize them as
old friends whenever and wherever they may see them.
It is hoped that acquaintance with the picture and the interest
awakened by its story will grow into a fuller appreciation and
understanding of the artist's work. Thus the children will have many
happy hours and will learn to love the good, the true, and the
beautiful in everything about them.
Transcriber's Note:
* Some words have accents of different weights. The heavier accent is
marked double (''). (Example: bo'nur'')
* Pg 2 Replaced colon with a semi-colon after "1814" located in
"Born, 1814:".
* Pg 51 (k[+o]'r[+o]'') and Pg 63 (b[+o]'nur'') contains the + symbol
representing an "up tack" not represented in any charts.
End of Project Gutenberg's Stories Pictures Tell, by Flora L. Carpenter