Daniel Ridgway Knight

F.O. Mathiessen, New York

J.J. Walsh (sale: American Art Association, 1-2 April 1902, lot 75)

Evelyn Walsh Mclean, Washington, D.C.

Herman G. Lane (sale: Sotheby’s, New York, 23 January 1952, lot 48)

Sale: Sotheby's New York, 30 May 1985, lot 136

Walter Knestrick, by 1990

Kurt E. Schon, Ltd. New Orleans, Louisiana, by May 2001

Acquired by a private collector (sale: Sotheby's, New York, 25 April 2006, lot 142)

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Salon, 1875

Ithaca, New York, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University; New York, Christie’s; St Petersburg, Florida Museum of Fine Arts, Memphis, Tennessee, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Paintings and Drawings by the American Artists Ridgway Knight and Aston Knight, May 1989 - February 1990, no. 2

Theodore Child, 'Daniel Ridgway Knight,' The Art Amateur, 1884, no. 12, p. 104

Following the early successes of his artistic career in Paris, Ridgway Knight was invited by Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier to relocate to Poissy. This impressive work clearly reflects Meissonier’s influence and academic style, while also conveying a distinct and personal vision of peasant life unique to Knight. A group of washerwomen stretch along the riverbank, some kneeling over their washboards, others carrying heavy baskets brimming with laundry. A shifting, golden light spills across the river and figures, lending the scene a luminous, atmospheric quality. The powerful composition and monumental scale suggest that the artist intended to make a lasting impression with this Salon entry. Indeed, the painting received considerable acclaim following its exhibition in 1875. More recently, it was displayed in the drawing room of the American Embassy in Paris from 1985 to 1988.