An
artist of the Dutch school, Ronner-Knip painted primarily genre
scenes, landscapes, still lives, and especially animals. The daughter
of artist Joseph-August Knip, she was also his student, painting
mostly still lifes and genre scenes in her youth. In the year
1836, when she was only 15 years of age, she both exhibited and
sold her first work in Dusseldorf, which was quite a feat for
such a young artist. When she married, however, her husband turned
quite ill and the family was forced to move to Brussels in 1859.
It was here that she began to paint her famed animals scenes,
and especially the celebrated canvases of cats and kittens, for
they proved to be the most constant and inexpensive models. This
sector of her oeuvre is praised not only for her ability to give
such individualistic character to her subjects, but also for her
ability to render the luscious and elegant interiors in which
the animals commonly frolic.
Because of the popularity of her works, Ronner-Knip exhibited
rather regularly at the Paris Salons and throughout England, where
her paintings are still highly coveted and collected to this day.
She is known to have exhibited works in London in both 1862 and
1892, but in addition showed her pieces at the Walker Art Gallery
in Liverpool (4), the Royal Society of Artists at Birmingham (2),
the Fine Arts Society (115), the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts
(38), the Goupil Gallery (31), the Manchester City Art Gallery
(10), the New Gallery (2), the Royal Academy (16), the Royal Institute
of Painters in Water Colours (16), the Royal Institute of Oil
Painters (13), the Royal Scottish Academy (24), the Royal Scottish
Society of Painters in Water Colours (1), and the Society of Women
Artists (1). Her pieces remain respected in today's modern age,
and this painting in particular serves as a good example of her
mid-career subject and style.
Recorded:
Benezit, Emmanuel. Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs,
et Graveurs. (Paris: Librairie Grund, 1976).
Berko, Patrick and Viviane. Dictionary of Belgian Painters Born
Between 1750 & 1875. (Brussels: Editions Laconti, 1981).
Duvosquel, Jean-Marie and Philippe Cruysmans. Dictionary of Belgian
and Dutch Animal Painters Born Between 1750 and 1880. (Knokke-Zoute,
Belgium: Berko, 1998).
Johnson, J. and A. Greutzner. Dictionary of British Art, Volume
V: British Artists, 1880 - 1940. (Suffolk: Antique Collectors'
Club Ltd., 1990).
Le Dictionnaire des Peintres Belges du XIVe Siecle a Nos Jours.
(Brussels: La Renaissance du Livre, 1995).
Piron, Paul. De Belgische Beeldende Kunstenaars. (Brussels: Art
in Belgium, 1998).
Schurr, Gerald and Pierre Cabanne. Dictionnaire des Petits Maitres
de la Peinture 1820 – 1920. (Paris: Les Editions de L'Amateur,
1996).
Thieme, Ulrich and Felix Becker. Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden
Kunstler. (Leipzig: Veb E. A. Seemann Verlag).
Collections:
Dijon: Chat guettant une hirondelle ; The Hague: Still life with
melon ; Amsterdam: A mother cat with her little ones , Three against
one ; Avignon: Dog and cat , Rabbits and vegetables ; Antwerp:
Indiscretion , The blind man ; Brussels: Accessories , Le dindon
, An old friend , Les pavots , La cruche d'etain ; Ghent
