(1839–1924)
Daniel Ridgway Knight was an American expatriate plein-air painter who spent most of his career in France. He began his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia between 1858 and 1861, prior to moving to Paris in 1861. He continued his studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and in the ateliers of Charles Gleyre and Alexander Cabanel, and later in Venice at the Accademia di San Luca. After spending less than a year in Italy, Knight returned to the United States in 1863 to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. He returned to France in 1872, and remained there for the rest of his life.
In France, Knight became friends with Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Alfred Wordsworth Thompson. His works reflected their Impressionist influence, with their lighting effects and focus on everyday subjects. Knight also met fellow artist Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier, and thereafter settled in Poissy, a small village on the outskirts of Paris, to be closer to the academic painter. Meissonier’s influence can be seen in Knight’s incorporation of realism and his focus on rural peasant scenes.
Knight’s pleasing scene of rural life proved highly popular among nineteenth-century collectors, both in France and abroad, and brought him the fortune and renown. During his lifetime, Daniel Ridgway Knight exhibited his work extensively both nationally and internationally, including at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, National Academy of Design, and Paris Salon His works are found in private collections and museums, including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Brooklyn Museum.