Studies of an Isard

Studies of an Isard, painted around 1900, engages with one of the most distinctive and less-commonly depicted European animals — the isard, or Pyrenean chamois, a small mountain antelope found in the high Pyrenees that Bonheur would have encountered during her many working visits to that region. The isard's agility, its adaptation to steep rocky terrain, and the specific character of its short, smooth coat and backward-curving horns presented a set of pictorial problems different from the domestic animals and big cats that dominated Bonheur's practice. A study of an animal relatively uncommon in art history reflected her naturalist breadth — she was not content to paint only the conventional animal subjects but sought to extend her observational catalogue to include the full range of European fauna she could directly encounter. Multiple studies on a single canvas suggest she approached the isard systematically, documenting different postures and aspects rather than making a single finished portrait.

Multiple isard poses are organised on the canvas as a systematic study series, with each pose capturing a different attitude of the animal in its natural environment. The isard's smooth, short coat is rendered with a different technique from Bonheur's woolly sheep or maned lion studies.