A French government commission led to Bonheur's first great success, "Ploughing in the Nivernais", exhibited in 1849 and now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Her most famous work, the monumental "The Horse Fair", was completed in 1855 and measured eight feet high by sixteen feet wide. It depicts the horse market held in Paris, on the tree-lined boulevard de l'Hôpital, near the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, which is visible in the painting's background. There is a reduced version in the National Gallery in London. This work led to international fame and recognition; that same year she traveled to Scotland and met Queen Victoria "en route", who admired Bonheur's work"." In Scotland, she completed sketches for later works including "Highland Shepherd," completed in 1859, and "A Scottish Raid," completed in 1860. These pieces depicted a way of life in the Scottish highlands that had disappeared a century earlier, and they had enormous appeal to Victorian sensibilities.