Four years later, after eighteen long months of preparatory studies, her “Horse Fair” was painted.  This created the greatest enthusiasm both in England and America.  It was sold to a gentleman in England for eight thousand dollars, and was finally purchased by A. T. Stewart, of New York, for his famous collection.  No one who has seen this picture will ever forget the action and vigor of these Normandy horses.  In painting it, a petted horse, it is said, stepped back upon the canvas, putting his hoof through it, thus spoiling the work of months.

So greatly was this picture admired, that Napoleon III. was urged to bestow upon her the Cross of the Legion of Honor, entitled her from French usage.  Though she was invited to the state dinner at the Tuileries, always given to artists to whom the Academy of Fine Arts has awarded its highest honors, Napoleon had not the courage to give it to her, lest public opinion might not agree with him in conferring it upon a woman.  Possibly he felt, more than the world knew, the insecurity of his throne.

Henry Bacon, in the Century, thus describes the way in which Rosa Bonheur finally received the badge of distinction.  “The Emperor, leaving Paris for a short summer excursion in 1865, left the Empress as Regent.  From the imperial residence at Fontainebleau it was only a short drive to By (the home of Mademoiselle Bonheur).  The countersign at the gate was forced, and unannounced, the Empress entered the studio where Mademoiselle Rosa was at work.  She rose to receive the visitor, who threw her arms about her neck and kissed her.  It was only a short interview.  The imperial vision had departed, the rumble of the carriage and the crack of the outriders’ whips were lost in the distance.  Then, and not till then, did the artist discover that as the Empress had given the kiss, she had pinned upon her blouse the Cross of the Legion of Honor.”  Since then she has received the Leopold Cross of Honor from the King of Belgium, said to be the first ever conferred upon a woman; also a decoration from the King of Spain.  Her brother Auguste, now dead, received the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1867, two years after Rosa.

In preparing to paint the “Horse Fair” and other similar pictures, which have brought her much into the company of men, she has found it wise to dress in male costume.  A laughable incident is related of this mode of dress.  One day when she returned from the country, she found a messenger awaiting to announce to her the sudden illness of one of her young friends.  Rosa did not wait to change her male attire, but hastened to the bedside of the young lady.  In a few minutes after her arrival, the doctor, who had been sent for, entered, and seeing a young man, as he supposed, seated on the side of the bed, with his arm round the neck of the sick girl, thought he was an intruder, and retreated with all possible speed.  “Oh! run after him!  He thinks you are my lover, and has gone and left me to die!” cried the sick girl.  Rosa flew down stairs, and soon returned with the modest doctor.