Netherlandish Henriette Ronner-Knip custom oil paintings

Henriette Ronner-Knip
Dutch artist
born 1821 - died 1909

Henriette Ronner-Knip is perhaps best known for her oil paintings of dogs and cats, but it was not until her later life that she specialised in these genres. Henriette Ronner-Knip came from a family of artists and received her earliest tuition from her father Joseph Augustus Knip (1777-1847). At the age of fifteen, Ronner-Knip sold her first painting in an exhibition at Dusseldorf.

During her early years, Henriette Ronner-Knip painted many subjects including genre scene paintings, landscapes and still life paintings. In 1850, she married Telco Ronner and they moved to Brussels where she was to spend the rest of her life. In 1860, Henriette Ronner-Knip exhibited a painting entitled La mort d’un ami which was highly acclaimed, establishing her reputation as a painter of dogs. The Queen of Belgium commissioned Henriette Ronner-Knip to paint two of her favourite lap-dogs in 1876 and the success of these paintings led to many more commissions. Henriette Ronner-Knipcounted most of the crowned heads of Europe amongst her patrons. 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. She began to paint cats in paintings that were popular for their humorous and anthropomorphic characterization. These domestic pets were often depicted in luxurious interiors, lying on silk cushions and chairs or playing in fancy baskets.

Henriette Ronner-Knip exhibited widely throughout her career and was elected to many artistic societies. The “Natura Artis Magistra” Society of Amsterdam elected Henriette Ronner-Knip to membership in 1850 and Ronner-Knip was made a member of merit in the Academy of Painting and Drawing in Rotterdam in 1861. Her paintings won medals in exhibitions around the world, including two bronze medals, one vermeil medal, five silver medals and six gold medals. The King of The Netherlands also presented Ronner-Knip with a “Unique Medal of Merit” in 1874. Her international reputation was confirmed at the prestigious Worlds Fairs. First by an artistic medal at the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876, then by a gold medal at the Colonial and International Exposition held in Amsterdam in 1883 and a silver medal at the Universal Exhibition held in Edinburgh in 1883.- Netherlandish Henriette Ronner-Knip custom oil paintings - Henriette Ronner-Knip custom Netherlandish oil painting from photo –custom oil painting Henriette Ronner-Knip Bio by Netherlandish paintings art of oil painting from photo.

Ronner Knip was awarded the Cross of the Order of Léopold in 1887 by Léopold II King of the Belgians, an honour rarely bestowed upon a woman artist. In 1891, a Henriette Ronner-Knip Album was published with twelve reproductions of her most famous oil paintings. Ronner-Knip died in Brussels in 1909.

The paintings of Henriette Ronner-Knip are represented in several museums including the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and the Dordrechts Museum.

Frankness and sincerity are the hallmark of Mrs. Ronner and it is these qualities combined with a true artist’s temperament that made her renowned, and whose popularity will not likely fade any time soon.

That is what E. Baes wrote in the Journal of Fine Art and Literature in 1887 (“Expositions De Tableaux.” Journal des Beaux-arts et de la Literature, no. xxix, 1887, p. 187)

During her life, Henriëtte Ronner-Knip became widely recognized for her paintings of dogs and cats, which she specialized in at a later stage of her artistic career. Her mastery at depicting the feline race was described by Marion H. Spielman, who was asked to write an English essay about the artist for the Magazine of Art in 1890, and which Henriette Ronner Knip published in a book a year later. Henriette Ronner Knip wrote that:

She has produced a cat-world as impressive as the cattle-world of Potter (Paulus Potter-Dutch, 1625-1654), and as beautiful and touching as the stag and dog worlds of Landseer (Sir Edwin Henry Landseer-British, 1802-1873); and she has peopled it with a race remarkable above all for beauty and grace, for playfulness and cunning, and for intelligence afar beyond what most people have any knowledge of. (Henriette Ronner: The Painter of Cat Life and Cat Character, London: Cassell, 1891, pp. 1, 2)

She was born Henriëtte Knip on May 31, 1821 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands into a family of artists. Her father, Josephus Augustus Knip (1777-1847) began working as a wallpaper painter in his father’s studio, and went to Paris, France, in 1801, where Henriette Ronner Knip produced mostly landscapes in gouache. After winning the Prize of Rome (1808) Henriette Ronner Knip spent a few years in Italy from 1809. There, Henriette Ronner Knip made numerous drawings of Roman monuments and landscapes in the Neo-classical style. In 1813, Henriette Ronner Knip went back to the Netherlands, before moving again in 1823 to Paris with his wife and two children, Augustus and Henriëtte. When Josephus returned four years later to the Netherlands, his eyesight began to fail, and Henriette Ronner Knip became totally blind in 1832. Even then, Henriette Ronner Knip moved within the Netherlands, first to The Hague then to Brabant, where Henriette Ronner Knip died in 1847. - Netherlandish Henriette Ronner-Knip custom oil paintings - Henriette Ronner-Knip custom Netherlandish oil painting from photo –custom oil painting Henriette Ronner-Knip Bio by Netherlandish paintings art of oil painting from photo.

Since the early age of five, Henriëtte showed a talent and disposition for drawing, and copied many studies and sketches from her father. Most of her early childhood drawings that are known were created during her stay in France with her family (as noted by Harry J. Kraaij, Dictionary of Women Artists, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997, vol.2, p. 1195). After settling in the Netherlands, she began her artistic education under her father’s guidance at age eleven. When Henriette Ronner Knip lost his eyesight, Josephus decided to train his daughter seriously, as she would become responsible for providing income for the family. From that time, young Henriëtte underwent a rigorous training regimen in her father’s studio, where she would remain at her easel from sunrise to sunset, except for small breaks for meals and a short siesta at midday. Josephus was her only teacher; Henriette Ronner Knip urged her to study from nature, and warned her “against seeing with eyes other than her own.” (Spielman, p. 25) Henriette Ronner Knip also told her what to look for and how to look for it, and constantly reminded her of the sacrifices that an artist must make in order to reap the joy of success. Despite the severity of her training, Henriëtte realized that her father’s training system and advice would “more likely bring her to the highest excellence by developing her own powers and resources, than the cold system ordinarily adopted in our academies.” (as quoted by Spielman, p. 25)

Henriëtte learnt quickly, and began to create art works fast in order to sell them. By the time she was sixteen years old, she first exhibited her work at the annual art exhibition in Düsseldorf. Her picture of a cat at a window was sold, and henceforth, Henriëtte became a regular contributor to the exhibitions of Germany and Holland. She was a rapid producer, so by age eighteen, she was able to paint and sell a large number of popular subjects that included pastoral landscapes, castles, farms, genres scenes, still lifes and portraits. Despite that diverse production, she gradually began to focus more on animal scenes, which was her favorite subject. Instead of landscapes, she depicted more images of cows, sheep, horses, and birds. Henriëtte’s style at that time was characterized her precision and attention to detail, and use of dark colors, all which reflected the influence of the classicistic landscapes of her father (Kraaij, p. 1195)

Around 1845 Henriëtte dedicated her works to animal scenes that depicted dogs, typically hunting dogs in forests and heath countryside. She began to receive critical praise at that time because of her “accomplished painting technique, balanced compositions and large formats.” (Kraaij, p. 1196) In the meantime, she met Teico Ronner whom she married in 1850, and since adopted the name of Henriëtte Ronner-Knip. That same year, they moved from Brabant to Brussels, Belgium, where she was to give birth to six children (two of them would become painters: Alfred Ronner 1852-1901, and Alice Ronner, 1857-1906), and to spend the rest of her life. Her first years of marriage were a struggle, as her husband was sickly, and she was once again responsible to provide the family income. Used to hard work, Henriëtte woke up regularly at five in the morning, and painted diligently to earn her family’s livelihood.

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