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Change is a measure of time and, in the autumn, time seems speeded up. What was, is not and never again will be; what is, is change. 
- Edwin Way Teale

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when their right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."
— Marilyn Monroe

Rosa Bonheur once told a friend, "Art is an absorbent -- a tyrant. It demands my heart, brain, soul, body, the entireness of the votary. Nothing less will win its highest favor. I wed art. It is my husband, my world, my life-dream, the air I breathe. I know nothing else, feel nothing else, think nothing else. My sould finds in it the most complete satisifaction. I have no taste for general society, no interest in its fivolities. I only seek to be known through my works. If the world feel and understand them, I have succeeded."

Rosa Bonheur

by Anna Elizabeth Klumpke

Though she is best known for being one of the most faithful animaliers (painters of animals) to ever hold a brush, Rosa also worked in sculpture, casting bronzes (of animals, of course) early in her career. Today she is also revered for being an outspoken feminist, and gaining female visual artists more equal status. Her nonconformity was outrageous for 19th-century Paris but, because she was so successful and independently wealthy, she forced many to reconsider the role of women artists.

Studio of Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur, born 1822, in France, is considered to have been the most famous woman painter of the 19th century. Although her family attempted to enroll her in a boarding school where she would learn a trade, her unconventional, boisterous nature was not suited for such conventional training. Instead, she became a student in her father's drawing academy. Through her father's instruction, Bonheur learned that careful observation and fidelity to nature were the keys to artistic success. In order to achieve a degree of anatomical realism in her paintings, Bonheur made regular trips to the slaughterhouses of Paris. So as not to attract attention, she cropped her hair and wore men's clothing on these expeditions, a practice she would continue throughout her life and which would earn her the reputation for being eccentric.

Rosa Bonheur with Bull

by E. L. Dubufe

Rosa's paintings were a hit with the public. Her sales were brisk due partly to the fact that everyone had heard of her: she earned a living as an artist, won awards, smoked in public, wore overalls, and in short, she was a notorious woman. Bonheur never married or had children. She spent many years of her life with her childhood friend, Nathalie Micas. The two became lifelong friends and lived together until Micas' death in 1889. Bonheur's last years were spent with Anna Klumpke, an American painter whom Bonheur made sole heiress of her estate

Horse Fair

by Rosa Bonheur

Forest of Fontainebleau

by Rosa Bonheur

St. Catherine of Siena

The 25th child of a wool dyer in northern Italy, St. Catherine started having mystical experiences when she was only 6, seeing guardian angels as clearly as the people they protected. She became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, and continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints. St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. In 1336, she tried to convince the Pope to bring the papacy back to Rome from its displacement in France. She so impressed him that he returned his administration to Rome in 1377.

The Ecstasy of St. Catherine of Siena

by Pompeo Batoni, 1743

King Charles II appointed Louise Renee de Kerouaille, an aristocrat lady from France, as a lady -in-waiting to his own queen, Catherine of Braganza in 1670. In 1673, several royal titles were bestowed upon Louise. Her pensions and money allowances of various kinds, from both the French throne and Charles II were enormous. Hatred was openly avowed for her in England due as much to her own activity in the interest of France as to her notorious plundering and greed. However, the Duchess's thorough understanding of the king's character enabled her to retain her hold on him to the very end.


When the young Portugese princess, Catherine, married King Charles II in 1662, she suddenly found herself in the midst of a bawdy and dissolute court, where she was a target for anti-Catholic bigotry. Her greatest misfortune was that she fell in love with her husband during the first weeks of their marriage. How extremely painful it must have been for her to discover that her husband's mistress was already carrying his child at the time of their marriage. How difficult to have to see Charles with a total of 13 other mistresses during the length of their marriage! To her credit, Catherine made close friendships with many of these mistresses with whom she had to share her home.


Charles was popularly known as the Merrie Monarch, in reference to both the liveliness and hedonism of his court. Charles's wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no children, but Charles acknowledged at least 12 illegitimate children by 7 different mistresses.

Eleanor "Nell" Gwynne was one of the earliest English actresses to receive prominent recognition. Likewise, Nell was the only one of King Charle II's many mistresses to be genuinely popular with the English public and of his 13 mistresses, she was the least greedy. Well known for her native wit, Nell is famous for a remark she made to her coachman, who was fighting with another man who had called her a whore. She broke up the fight by saying, "I am a whore. Find something else to fight about."

Nell Gwynne

by Sir Peter Lely

Barbara Palmer became mistress to England's King Charles II in 1660, while still married to Roger Palmer. As a reward for her services, the King endowed her husband as Baron Limerick and Earl of Castlemaine. Of her six children, five were acknowledged by King Charles as his.


By 1662, Barbara, as the King's mistress, had more influence at the court than his Queen! Lady Barbara took advantage of her influence over the King, using it to her own benefit. She would help herself to money from the Privy Purse and take bribes from the Spanish and the French. She was famously extravagant and promiscuous and known to meddle in politics.

Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland

by John Michael Wright

Barbara Palmer, Mistress to King Charles II

by Sir Peter Lely

King Charles II of England

Madame de Pompadour was a talented and beautiful lady who exerted strong cultural, intellectual and political influence at the French court, and was the official mistress of King Louis XV, from 1745 to 1750.  Her influence over Louis increased markedly, to the point where he allowed her considerable leeway in the determination of policy over a whole range  of issues, from military matters to foreign affairs.

Francois Boucher

Francois Boucher

Commemorative portrait of Madame de Pompadour

Fracois-Hubert Drouais