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PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR

AMERICAN, 1839-1924
LES LAVEUSES

LES LAVEUSES

measurements
35 1/2 by 51 in.

alternate measurements
90.2 by 129.5 cm

signed D.R. Knight and dated 1875 (lower left)

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

F.O. Mathiessen, New York
J.J. Walsh (and sold: American Art Association, April 1-2, 1902, lot 75)
Evelyn Walsh Mclean, Washington, D.C.
Herman G. Lane
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Knestrick
Private Collection
Kurt E. Schon, Ltd. New Orleans, Louisiana
Acquired from the above by the present owner

EXHIBITED

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

LITERATURE

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

NOTE

Soon after celebrating the first successful years of his artistic career in Paris, Ridgway Knight was invited to move to Poissy, a rural town not far outside the city limits, by Jean-Louis Ernest Meissioner. The renowned Meissioner was impressed with Knight's talent and offered his protégé inspiration, advice and a challenge: to paint a large picture from a recent sketch. Knight boldly met his mentor's goal and the resulting picture is Les Laveuses (A Pastoral Legacy, Ithaca, New York, n.p). Indeed, elements of the impressive work reveal Meissonier's influence and academic style, while possessing a distinct expression of peasant life singular to Ridgway Knight. The group of washerwomen stretched along the bank, kneeling over their washboards and carrying heavy baskets with overflowing laundry, gives an epic importance to these humble figures. The intricate detailing of costume, facial expression, skin tones, and postures describe how the heroic efforts of such "simple" tasks affected the women of Poissy as they aged from young maids to wiser elders. There is a particular shifting, golden quality to the light spilling over the river and the washerwoman which reminds one of Meissonier's great works as well as suggesting the temporality of the scene. Yet a memory of Ridgway Knight's home country can be detected in the boater and trees on the far bank--reminiscent of American landscape painting. The powerful composition and monumental scale of the painting suggest the artist intended to make a lasting impression with this Salon entry. Indeed, the work drew incredible acclaim soon after its 1875 exhibition and has continued to stand as a lasting legacy to the artist as it hung in the drawing room of the American Embassy in Paris from 1985 to 1988 where it served as a backdrop as Ambassador Joseph M. Rodgers received his guests.

Howard L. Rehs has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work and will include it in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by Rehs Galleries, Inc. - www.ridgwayknight.com