Mlle. Bonheur’s home at Fontainebleau is fairly alive with pets; sheep,
horses, goats and dogs; creatures with pedigree and without it;
creatures famous for their beauty or remarkable for their rarity. Not
only does she entertain peaceable, home-loving animals, but also such
fierce inmates as lions and tigers. From one of the former was painted
her magnificent “Old Monarch,” which fronts squarely the spectator
like one “every inch a king.” Her “Tiger” is the faithful likeness of
a pet brought to her as a cub from the jungles of Bengal. Nero was
his well-bestowed name--a name appropriate to the latent power and
ferocity which might become terribly apparent should he ever have the
chance or wish to exert them. But this has never happened. Temptations
to naughtiness are carefully removed from his path, his will is rarely
crossed, his tastes are consulted. Roomily lodged, amply fed, he is
probably the most civilized tiger in existence.
Mlle. Bonheur is convinced of his affection, but it is doubtless as
fortunate for the world as for herself that she never entered his cage.
This superb favorite cost about three thousand dollars, and as His
Majesty’s meat diet is also very expensive, he may be accounted in more
ways than one a dear pet.
Several wild horses were at one time added to the studio “properties”;
and lately a Russian nobleman presented Mlle. Bonheur with a couple of
magnificent Russian bears, to which she is said to be much attached.
Paris is a city dear to artists, and almost every nationality is
represented in its salons. Henry Bacon, for instance, is American;
and among the paintings and sketches that fill his studio, are many
reminiscences of his far-off home. In no way, moreover, is he so
genuinely American as in his devotion to pets. It is a pity that in
many cases their beautiful portraits are all of themselves that remain
to him. Most notable among them, and perhaps also best beloved, was
Glen, a black-and-tan collie from Aberdeenshire, born in 1879, whose
parents, Jock and Miss, had both obtained prize medals.
[Illustration: AN OLD MONARCH.
(_After the painting by Rosa Bonheur._)]
Miss made a rather careless mother--often allowing her puppies to
wander out of sight; but this was pure absent-mindedness--for when
in their rovings beyond the kennel they came to grief, she appeared
conscious of her maternal short-comings, and employed all her
intelligence to serve her little ones.
[Illustration: WASP, ROSA BONHEUR’S PET TERRIER.
(_After Rosa Bonheur’s painting._)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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