Henriette Ronner-Knip

Private collection, UK

Sale: Bonhams, London, 31 March 2021, lot 20

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Coming from a large family of successful artists, Henriette Ronner-Knip was destined to follow in her families’ footsteps and exhibited her first painting when she 16 years old. She studied under her father Josephus Augustus Knip (1777-1847) who was a painter of landscapes and animals and after initially finding success in landscape painting Ronner-Knip began to focus on household pets – especially kittens – in the 1860s.

By building a special glass-fronted miniature studio, she was able to carefully observe and sketch her cats playing and sleeping without disturbing them. In the present work, Ronner-Knip captures the adorable, indolent disposition of three pampered kittens and their resting mother. With lively, impressionistic brushwork and short, scratch marks made with the end of the brush, the artist successfully simulates the soft, downy fur and whiskers of each individual cat. The subtle pink, green and gold coloured fabrics which surround them suggest a luxurious domestic interior.

A consistent exhibitor at the Royal Academy in London from 1891 to 1903, her paintings were shown throughout Europe and further abroad. Among her most prestigious clients were the King of Hanover, Don Fernando King of Portugal, Emperor Wilhelm I King of Prussia, Baron Tindal of Amsterdam, the Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess of Wales. In 1887, Ronner-Knip was awarded the Belgian Cross of the Order of Leopold, making her one of the few women to hold the oldest and highest order of Belgium.