DANIEL RIDGWAY KNIGHT | Daydreaming

Sale: Sotheby's, New York, June 3, 1971, lot 18, illustrated 
Private Collection 
Thence by descent to the present owner 

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work is lined with wax and stretched onto a new stretcher. The wax lining is easily reversible. A few retouches in the sky have blanched slightly and should be adjusted. The paint layer does not appear to be abraded. Some drying cracks have developed in the darkest colors of the vegetation on either side of the figure. There are a few small thin retouches in both of these areas. There are retouches to cracks in the lower right, which do not interfere with the signature, and also in the lower left, which seem to have developed because of changes in the composition. The figure herself has no retouches except to a horizontal stretcher mark in the basket. A few thin cracks and a few spots have been retouched in the sky. The condition is very good overall.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

By the mid-1890s, Daniel Ridgway Knight established a contract with Knoedler which enabled the painter to sell his entire output through the famed art dealer, except for those he wished to sell privately on his own. Around the same time the artist also decided to purchase a third residence in Rolleboise, the likely setting of the present work. At this new home in the country, Ridgway Knight created an environment resembling the times prior to the industrial revolution. He never installed electricity or a bathroom with running water in the house. The purpose of this setting was to enhance and support his sole dedication to painting. The house was "situated near the top of a high bluff overlooking the village and a bend of the Seine. The view was startlingly beautiful, stretching over cascading rooftops, the river, and miles and miles of fields, meadows, and lines of trees all the way to the horizon" (R. B. Knight, Ridgway Knight: A Master of the Pastoral Genre, exh. cat., Cornell University, 1989, p. 4). Also on his property was a glass structure, likely built as a greenhouse, in which the artist could stage his models in a certain light with the backdrop of the countryside but be protected from the elements (fig. 1). This allowed Ridgway Knight to create such beautifully observed portraits of figures in landscapes, such as Daydreaming. 



Howard L. Rehs has confirmed the authenticity of this work and will include it in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné which will be published by Rehs Galleries -  www.ridgwayknight.com.