Background

Daniel Ridgway Knight was born on March 15, 1840 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Education

From 1861 to 1863 Knight studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1872 he left America for France, where, in the outskirts of Paris, he soon established residence, and where he continued his tuition under Charles Gleyre and at the École des Beaux-Arts. This period of instruction was followed by eight months in Italy.

Career

In 1875 Knight worked with Meissonier in his studio at Poissy. As early as 1873 he began exhibiting with the Société des Artistes Français, an association which was not broken until a few years before his death. The storytelling picture of peasant life was much in vogue in Paris; both Bastien Le Page and Jules Breton exerted a certain influence upon the formative period of Ridgway Knight's art. He found many of his subjects in and about Poissy, painting its countryside, its harvest scenes, and its human types. "The Fugitives, " which he sent to the Paris Salon of 1873, "Washerwomen" (1875), and "Repast during the Harvest" (1876), belong to this period of his career. His début as a full-fledged exhibiting artist was made almost simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic, the year 1873 marking also the display of "The Veteran" and "Othello in the House of Brabantio" at the National Academy of Design in New York.

His first public recognition came in 1884, when, like many another artist destined for fame, he received an honorable mention at the Paris Salon. Throughout his career he held a dual allegiance to the land of his birth and the land of his inspiration. As he had become an art propagandist for France, so, also, he became a member of the committee of the American Relief Clearing House. He died at his home, Les Terrasses, Rolleboise par Bonniers, in the department of Seine-et-Oise, France.

Achievements

• Daniel Ridgway Knight became the famous artist. His works with peasant women out of door won the worldwide success. In 1888 he won a gold medal of the third class at the Salon, and the next year a silver medal at the Paris Exposition. Three years later he became the recipient of the cross of the Legion of Honor of France and was successively a knight and an officer of that body. Germany recognized him with a gold medal at Munich in 1888; America with a medal at the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, and with the coveted grant of the medal of honor of his art alma mater, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. At the Antwerp international exposition of 1894, he again added a medal to his laurels. His painting, "The Year's Economies, " was chosen in 1890 by the British Post Savings Bank as its New Year's card for all its depositors. The storytelling character of his art and its resultant popularity rendered notable service to France during the First World War, when Knight was made one of its official propagandists and his picture, "Bas de Laine, " was distributed throughout the country in 1917 to push the third French war loan.

Works

More photos

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  • A MAID IN HER GARDEN ROSES FLOWERS PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

  • THE CONVERSATION WOMEN AT THE CISTERN FLOWERS CONTRYSIDE PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

  • TWO WOMEN TALKING IN THE GARDEN FLOWERS RIVER IN THE BACKGROUND PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

  • CHRYSANTHEMUMS GARDEN WOMAN TENDING FLOWERS WATERING POT PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

  • WOMAN WITH WATERING POT IN A GARDEN ROSES FLOWERS PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

  • NORMANDY MAID IN A WHEAT FIELD AT THE SUNSET PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

  • YOUNG WOMAN PICKING WILDFLOWERS FIELD OF FLOWERS PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

  • THE NEW PUPPY WOMAN WITH DOG IN THE GARDEN PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

  • A FIELD OF FLOWERS WOMAN HARVESTING ALONGSIDE THE RIVER PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

  • WOMAN PICKING ROSES IN THE GARDEN FLOWERS RIVER PAINTING BY DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT ON CANVAS REPRO

    (ARTWORK ON CANVAS !!!!!! THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL / GREAT QUAL...)

Connections

Knight was married to Rebecca Morris Webster. Two sons, growing up under their father's influence, became artists: one a painter, the other an architect.

Spouse:

Rebecca Morris Webster

References

• Art and Artists of Our Time, Vol. 3 (Classic Reprint)
• Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings Volume 2
• Artists Of The Nineteenth Century And Their Works: A Handbook Containing Two Thousand And Fifty Biographical Sketches, Volume 1 (German Edition)