The Legend of the Wolves

1890s

Rosa Bonheur

Associated Names
Rosa Bonheur

Artist, French, 1822 - 1899

This drawing shows a rocky, dark-blue landscape under an overcast night sky. In the center, a person on horseback stands on a tall rock. The person appears human, but they have tall, pointed ears on the top of their head, and their eyes are small points of bright orange. No other details are distinguishable. The horse they sit on stands tall, facing the right. Its mane and tail are blowing in the wind, and small streaks of orange light are coming out of its nostrils, as if it is breathing fire. Surrounding this large boulder, across the rest of the rocky landscape, a pack of dogs runs from the left side of the drawing towards the lower right corner, jumping off a grassy hill. They have upright, pointed ears and thin tails. Many of them have glowing orange eyes and thin lines of orange emerging from their open maws. The sky above is covered with thin gray clouds, and the light from a partially obscured moon illuminates the scene.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    charcoal with stumping and erasing, black chalk, and pastel on blue wove paper, edge mounted to paperboard

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Christian Humann Foundation

  • Dimensions

    overall: 59.9 x 80.7 cm (23 9/16 x 31 3/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1996.128.2

More About this Artwork

In this black and white photograph, a woman wearing a black dress leans toward an arched mirror set into a wall, so we see the woman twice in this double portrait. We are situated slightly below her so we look up at the woman, who gazes down and to our right. The surface of the wall is smooth but lightly textured, like adobe. Trees reflected in the mirror indicate that this is outdoors. The woman in front of us takes up the left half of the composition. She faces our right in profile and leans to our right, at the far edge of the mirror. Her dark hair is pulled up in ribbon entwined braids. She wears long, chandelier style earrings and her high-necked black dress has puffed, lace sleeves. We see her face straight on in the mirror’s reflection. The woman’s distinctive brows knit together over her rounded nose.

Article:  15 LGBTQ+ Artists to Know

Discover the lives of 15 LGBTQ+ artists and their art, much of which you can see at the National Gallery.


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Bonheur sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 5-8 June 1900, no. 1110); (Schweitzer Gallery, New York); (Shepherd Gallery, New York); purchased by Christian Humann, 1971; The Christian Humann Foundation, Paris, 1981; gift to NGA, 1996.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2012

  • Vernet to Villon: Nineteenth-Century French Master Drawings from the National Gallery of Art. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma. Norman, OK, 2012, no. 17.

Bibliography

2022

  • Buratti-Hasan, Sandra and Leïla Jarbouai. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899). Paris: Musée d'Orsay, 2022: 165, fig. 147.

Inscriptions

lower left in pen and dark brown ink: Rosa Bonheur;

Wikidata ID

Q64629737

You may be interested in

Loading Results