Background
Knight was born on October 21, 1874 in New York City. As a child, Knight was deeply interested in nature and animals, and spent many hours copying the illustrations from his father’s natural history books.
Knight was born on October 21, 1874 in New York City. As a child, Knight was deeply interested in nature and animals, and spent many hours copying the illustrations from his father’s natural history books.
Knight studied art at the Metropolitan Museum and the Art Students' League of New York, specializing in painting animals and birds.
Basing his work on fossil remains, Knight made models of extinct animals and prehistoric man for the U. S. government, the Carnegie Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History; he also executed murals depicting prehistoric men and animals for the Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum in Chicago, and the Los Angeles Museum. He was particularly known for his many restorations on canvas and in bronze and stone of prehistoric animals, shown in their natural surroundings and characterized by exceptional accuracy of detail. His illustrations appeared in numerous magazines, and he was the author and illustrator of Before the Dawn of History (1935), Life Through the Ages (1946), Animal Anatomy and Psychology for the Artist and Layman (1947), and Prehistoric Man (1949). He died in New York City, April 15, 1953
