Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924) | | | His Years at Rolleboise | Daniel Ridgway Knight's works represent so many aspects of Nineteenth Century painting, including history, genre, landscape, portrait, and floral themes. In each work, all that is aesthetic is recorded with fine detail and skill.
In order to faithfully record the scenery, Knight studied the different phases of the day and their effects on the environment. Knight built a glass studio outside of his home, enabling him to paint outdoors, even in the dead of winter. Whether he was concentrating on the evening with the glow of moonlight upon the Seine River, or on a young woman in a brightly colored flower garden at midday, each scene is depicted with great detail and with specific attention to a realistic portrayal of the landscape. |
(Photo of the artist c.1908)
| | Daniel
Ridgway Knight was born on March 15,1839 in Pennsylvania. He
studied and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts, were he was a classmate of Mary Cassatt and Thomas Eakins.
In 1861, he went to Paris to study at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts under
Cabanel, and to apprentice in the atelier of Charles-Gabriel-Gleyere. | | | |
(Artist
at Chateau de Rolleboise)
| He
returned to Philadelphia in 1863 to serve in the Union Army.
During the war, Knight practiced sketching facial expressions and
capturing human emotion in his work. He sketched battle scenes,
recording the war for history. He founded the Philadelphia Sketch
Club, where he showed works that dealt with the Civil War,
mythology, and scenes from opera. In 1871 Knight married Rebecca
Morris Webster and after the wedding he began working as a
portrait painter in order to make enough money to return to
France.
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1872, once settled in France, Knight befriended Renoir, Sisley,
and Wordsworth, all of whose influences can be seen in his work.
He also enjoyed a close relationship with Meissonier. In 1875 he
painted a painting called Wash Day (35 1/2" x 51 1/4")
after a sketch by Meissonier for which he received critical
acclaim. Knight was also strongly effected by the works of
Jean-Francois Millet. In 1874 while painting in Barbizon, Knight
went to visit Millet and found his view of peasant life to be too
fatalistic. As opposed to Millet, Knight focused on depicting the
rural classes during their happier moments. Other important
influences were Bastien-Lepage, with whom he is most often
compared and Jules Breton for his plein-air style. Knight's works during the 1870's and 1880's focused on the peasant at work in the field's or doing the day's chores - collecting water or washing clothes at the riverside. His painting Hailing the Ferry, painted in 1888 and currently in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, depicts two peasant girls calling for the ferryman on the other side of the river. This work, considered one of the artist's masterpieces, captures all the elements of his pre-Rolleboise period - the subdued light and color, the finely detailed figures and the artist's acute attention to detail.
By the mid 1890's, Knight established a home in Rolleboise, some forty miles west of Paris. Here he began to paint the scenes that were to make his work so sought after by contemporary collectors - views of his garden. His home had a beautiful garden terrace that overlooked the Seine - a view he often used in his paintings. Collectors from across the globe vied for these works which featured pretty local girls in his garden. Works from this period include The Roses currently in the collection of the J.B. Speed Museum and The Letter in the Joslyn Art Museum - both of which feature pretty young women surrounded by lush flora. Knight received a third class medal at the Salon in 1888 for Hailing the Ferry and a Gold Medal at the Munich Exhibition that same year. In 1889 he was awarded a Silver Medal at the Paris Exposition and was knighted in the Legion of Honor, becoming an officer in 1914. In 1896 he received the Grand Medal of Honor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Daniel R. Knight died in Paris on March 9, 1924.
Selected works by Daniel Ridgway Knight in U.S. public collections:
The Burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (1867) - The Washington County
Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD.
Scene from Faust - Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ.
Peasants Lunching in a Field (1875) - Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA.
Market at Poissy (1876) - The Museum at Drexel University, Phil., PA.
At the Well (1880) - Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Waiting for the Ferry (1885) - Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY
Noonday Meal (1887) - Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA.
Hailing the Ferry (1888) - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Phil., PA.
The Water Carriers (1892) - Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI.
The Shepherdess (1896) - Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, N.Y.
The Trysting Place (n.d.) - Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA.
Springtime (n.d.) - Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y.
The Gossips (n.d.) - The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, PA.
Noonday Meal (n.d.) - Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA.
Life is Sweet (n.d.) - Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH.
Landscape at Swickley PA. (n.d.) - Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT.
The Idler (n.d.) - Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH.
Girl by a Stream (n.d.) - Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN.
Brittany Girl Fishing (n.d.) - Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL.
French Thrift - Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NB. Literature:
Americans in Brittany and Normandy, 1860-1910, Phoenix Art Museum.
A Pastoral Legacy: Paintings and Drawings by the American Artists Ridgway Knight and Aston Knight, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Cornell University 1989.
Weinberg, H. Barbara, The Lure of Paris, Nineteenth Century American Painters and Their French Teachers, Abbeville Press Publishers, N.Y., 1991, Pgs 63-66.
Weisberg, Gabriel P., Redefining Genre: French and American Painting, 1850-1900, The Trust for Museum Exhibitions, 1995, Pg. 69-71. Catalogue for the traveling exhibition: Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis, TN., Sept. - Dec. 1995; Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL., Jan. - Feb. 1996; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA., Feb. - April 1996; Meridian International Center, Washington, D.C., May - July 1996
Weisberg, Gabriel P., Collecting in the Gilded Age: Art Patronage in Pittsburgh, 1890-1910, Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA., 1997, Balding + Mansell, Kettering.
This essay is copyrighted by Rehs Galleries, Inc. and may not be reproduced or transmitted without written permission from Rehs Galleries, Inc. |
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Please remember that all works illustrated below have been SOLD.Click on any image to enlarge it and see more information about the work |
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
La Petite Jardinière
Oil on canvas
33 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Partant pour le Travail
Oil on canvas
32 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1899
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Les Cerisiers
Oil on canvas
32 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1895/6
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Sur la Terrasse (Maria and Madeleine)
Oil on canvas
28 7/8 x 36 1/2 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Meditation
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1899
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Martha, A Days Sport
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 1/8 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Picking Poppies
Oil on canvas
32 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Confidence
Oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 31 5/8 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1898/9
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
On the Terrace at Rolleboise
Oil on canvas
26 x 32 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Chrysanthemums
Oil on canvas
21 3/4 x 18 1/4 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Maria on the Terrace with a Bundle of Grass
Oil on canvas
33 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
The Grass Cutter
Oil on canvas
32 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Maria and Madeleine on the Terrace
Oil on canvas
29 x 36 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1899
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Maria on the Terrace, Rolleboise
Oil on canvas
33 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
The Pet Dove
Oil on canvas
32 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
The Gossips
Oil on canvas
26 x 32 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Gathering Roses
Oil on canvas
32 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Gossips
Oil on canvas
32 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Returning Home
Oil on canvas
32 x 24 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
In the Garden
Oil on canvas
22 x 19 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
At Poissy 'Your Health'
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Waiting for the Ferryman
Oil on canvas
26 x 32 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
The Flower Girl
Oil on canvas
26 x 21 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
The Fisherman's Daughter
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 1/4 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1899
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Afternoon Sun, Rolleboise
Watercolor
14 5/8 x 10 5/8 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
By the Riverside
Oil on canvas
32 x 25 1/2 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Maria on the Terrace
Oil on canvas
32 1/4 x 25 3/4 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1900
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
The Village Seamstress
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 inches
Signed, Inscribed Paris and dated 1916
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Lecon de Danse
Oil on canvas
35 1/2 x 46 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Sur la Terrasse
Oil on canvas
36 x 46 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Titled on the reverse
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
En Vendanges
Oil on canvas
48 x 60 inches
Signed, inscribed Paris and dated 1905
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Le Dejeuner
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Julia - Corner of the Garden
Oil on canvas
32 x 25 1/2 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Julia Gathering Roses
Oil on canvas
22 1/8 x 18 1/2 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Girl Picking Poppies
Oil on canvas
22 1/4 x 18 1/4 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Dolce Far Niente
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Titled on the reverse
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Polishing the Urn
Oil on canvas
32 7/8 x 26 3/8 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Watching
Oil on canvas
22 1/4 x 18 1/2 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris; titled on the reverse
Painted c. 1897/8
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
The Signal
Oil on canvas
21 3/4 x 18 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1900
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Gathering Flowers
Oil on canvas
32 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Maria, By the Seine
Oil on canvas
32 1/4 x 26 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1900
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Time to Rest
Oil on canvas
22 1/4 x 18 1/4 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
This painting features his model Maria.
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Jeanne sur la terrasse
Oil on canvas
22 x 18 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
| Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
Madeleine in a Wheat Field
Oil on canvas
26 x 21 1/2 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
Painted c.1903
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Daniel Ridgway Knight
(1839 - 1924)
The Day's Catch
Oil on canvas
32 1/4 x 25 3/4 inches
Signed and inscribed Paris
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