Beschreibung:

Daniel Ridgway Knight (American, 1839-1924) Young Girl Holding a Puppy Signed and inscribed "Ridgway Knight/Paris" l.l. Oil on canvas, 47 1/4 x 35 1/4 in. (120.0 x 89.5 cm), framed. Condition: Lined, craquelure, restretched on new stretcher. Provenance: Christie's, New York, Lot 57, Sale #1309, December 4, 2003. N.B. This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by Howard L. Rehs. Although he was born and educated in part in the United States, Daniel Ridgway Knight spent most of his career in France. A plein-air and genre painter, Knight received his formal training from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) prior to 1861; the École des Beaux Arts in Paris from 1861 to 1863, studying under Cabanel and apprenticing in the studio of Charles Gleyre; and the Accademia di San Luca, located at that time in Venice. After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War and then marrying in 1871, Knight settled back in France in 1872. In the late 1890s Knight bought a home in Rolleboise west of Paris, with a terraced garden that overlooked the Seine; a view he would feature in many of this paintings. His best known works depict young peasant women in floral landscapes with views of cottages in the countryside. Knight exhibited regularly at the PAFA and the Paris Salon, while also frequenting and winning medals at various expositions in Munich, Paris, and Antwerp. During World War I, the French government employed Knight as a pictorial propagandist. Knight was awarded titles including the Officer of the Legion of Honor France and the Knight of St. Michael of Bavaria. He was also the founder of the Philadelphia Sketch Club. (1) 1. Falk, Peter Hastings, ed, Who Was Who In American Art: 1564-1975. Vol. II: G-O. Connecticut: Sound View Press, 1999, pp. 1872-73.