Auguste Bonheur (3 November 1824 in Bordeaux – 21 February 1884 in Bellevue, Seine-et-Oise)[1] was a French painter of animals and bucolic scenes in landscapes.

[4] Bonheur married and had a son named Raymond, who became a music composer and a close friend of André Gide and confidant of Claude Debussy.

This may be the same painting as The Ruins of the Château d’Apchon, exhibited at the Salon in 1853, and purchased by the French minister of the interior on the advice of Rosa.

The Sortie was awarded a first-class medal, and as a result was included as a prize in a lottery run by the French government to promote the ownership of modern art.

The painting, together with Auguste's Le Combat, souvenir des Pyrénées, later passed into the ownership of Sir Edward Bates at Gyrn Castle in Flintshire.

Writing in Abécédaire du Salon de 1861,[6] Gautier noted the similarity of style between Bonheur and Rosa, although Auguste's landscape settings were stronger and purer in colour, giving an impression of luminous sunshine.