But the naturalist movement it was that witnessed the development of the greatest artistic personality in the feminine world of to-day--Rosa Bonheur. The _rôle_ played by Rosa Bonheur is important from the feminine point of view, for the reason that she broke away from ancient traditions. She revealed what woman was capable of in the matter of energy, of continuity of purpose, of method, of scientific direction, in a word, in the indispensable impetus of inspiration. Before her day, the woman-painter had always been looked upon rather as a phenomenon, or her place in the domain of art was conceded to her on the grounds that she was indulging in an elevating and tasteful pastime, coming under the category of "accomplishments." Rosa Bonheur gave to woman a position equal to that of man. She won for herself unanimous admiration, based, not on the singularity of her life, not on looseness of morals, not on social triumphs, not on friends at Court, but on her robust, virile, observant and well-considered talent, which in its turn was based on a primary study of anatomy and osteology, developed by a continuous observation of the constitution and the life of the animal world. Her long life was crowned with glory. She held an exceptional place in art, akin to that of George Sand in the world of letters. From that day forth, there appeared a new phase in the artistic life of woman. Art became for her, not merely an intellectual pastime, but a vocation and a career. Rosa Bonheur lived nearly to the close of the nineteenth century, seeing many revolutions both in French life and in French art, but remaining always quite true to herself. Perhaps the most uncertain period of all, historically, so far as women were concerned, was that period of wave-like fluctuation in French art that occurred in the seventies and eighties, reflecting itself in the work of such women painters as Angèle Dubos, Jeanne Fichel, Marie Petiet, Laure de Chatillon, Félicie Schneider, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Nicolas, and Rosa Bonheur's successor--her heiress, so to speak--Madame Virginie Demont-Breton, the daughter, wife and niece of a family of distinguished artists. She has achieved a well-deserved popularity with her subjects of popular and rustic life, and, like Rosa Bonheur, has attained the rank of officer of the Legion of Honour. Two other feminine personalities have attracted the attention of both public and artists, the one, the sister-in-law of Manet, the delightful Mademoiselle Morisot, who has, so to speak, improved on the refinement of her master; the other, that strange and alluring young Russian girl, who adopted France as her Fatherland, and whom France adopted as artist. Marie Bashkirtseff, struck down by a cruel and premature death, at the age of twenty-three, revealed something far more than mere happy gifts. One is surprised at the amount of studies produced by the unfortunate and beautiful creature in the short space allotted to her for her life-work.