Pflügen im Nivernais

The French government commissioned this from Rosa Bonheur in 1849, paying 3000 francs, and she showed it at the Salon that same year. It marks the first ploughing of autumn, the teams dragging the blades through heavy soil to break and air it before winter. What is striking is who the heroes are. Bonheur gives almost the whole canvas to the oxen, twelve of them in two teams of six, their pale russet and white hides catching the light, while the men who drive them are pushed to the edges. She had earned the right to paint them this closely. To study animal anatomy she got official permission to wear men's clothes so she could work in the slaughterhouses and cattle markets where women were not welcome. That patience shows in every muscle straining against the yoke here.