DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT (American 1839-1924). Laundress by the Water's Edge, 1922 . Oil on canvas. 35-1/2 x 46-1/4 inches...

Description

DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT (American 1839-1924)
Laundress by the Water's Edge, 1922
Oil on canvas
35-1/2 x 46-1/4 inches (90.2 x 117.5 cm)
Signed and dated lower right: Ridgway Knight Paris 1922

Provenance:
Sotheby's, New York, October 24, 2006, lot 167

Along with many painters of the dawn of the twentieth century, Ridgway Knight explored the science of light through his paintings. He studied first at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with classmates, Mary Cassatt and Thomas Eakins, and then at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1863 he returned to America to serve in the Union Army. His experience in the civil war had a profound effect on the artist. He practiced sketching facial expressions and capturing human emotion in art. Upon his subsequent return to France, Knight became friendly with Renoir, Sisley, Wordsworth and Jean-François Millet, who influenced one another's work. Knight, like Millet, portrayed rural peasant life. Knight's Laundress by the Water's Edge is a beautiful example of his favorite theme recorded with fine detail and great sensitivity to light.

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