The First Grief (Le Premier Chagrin)

$18.00$473.00

Daniel Ridgway Knight, 1892

Framing available for canvas prints between 10 & 21 inches.

Canvas prints are rolled and packaged in a shipping tube. Paper prints that are smaller than 14” are shipped flat and prints that are larger than 14” are rolled and shipped in a shipping tube.

Framed work is wrapped in packaging foam and shipped in a framed art box.

Description

The First Grief (Le Premier Chagrin)

Daniel Ridgway Knight, 1892

This painting of two young peasant girls, shows both the French countryside and the Seine River in the background. The prestigious Paris Salon displayed the piece. At that time, French peasants were among the most popular subjects for both French and American artists. The delicate skin of the well modeled and idealized figures, and the blush of the young woman’s cheeks, are beautifully and carefully rendered. In contrast, Knight painted the landscape background with a looser, more impressionistic brush.

A Philadelphia artist, Daniel Ridgway Knight received academic training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He returned home to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War, and in 1871 set up permanent residence in France, where he became known for his rural scenes with peasant figures.

Le Premier Chagrin (The First Grief) was accepted into the 1892 Salon in Paris and was honored as one of the few works to be illustrated in the catalog. Sentimental peasants like these were one of the most popular subjects in the French salons. Knight’s idealized peasant girls inhabit a picturesque landscape untouched by urbanization.

What’s Going On?

The image places two female figures, their hands clasped, sitting together on a stone fence within a landscape setting.  The figure on the left wears a golden colored scarf covering her hair. She wears a white peasant blouse with a laced bodice over it. A blue skirt and a shawl or textile lies across her lap.  The figure on the right has dark hair styled up in a bun and a market basket hangs on her left arm. She wears a white blouse with a three-quarters sleeve jacket over it and a rust-brown skirt.

This piece was displayed in both the Shaping America and American Dreams exhibitions.

Additional information

Material

Canvas, Paper

Size

10" x 7.7", 14" x 10.8", 21" x 16.2", 30" x 23.1", 36" x 27.8"

Frame

Black, Espresso, Natural, Print Only

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