Louis Aston Knight, was the son of the American ex-patriot painter, Daniel Ridgway Knight. Daniel Ridgway Knight was born in America and began studying art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art. In 1872, he traveled to Paris and continued to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Thereafter, he remained in Europe, and studied in the academic studios of the Romantic Salon painters, Jules Ernst Messonier and Charles Gleyre and the Impressionists, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. Although Ridgway Knight, spent most of his life in Europe, his American style and technique show through. This typically American approach towards painting was to influence Louis Aston Knight as well. In 1873, Louis Aston Knight was born in Paris. Unlike his father, Aston Knight was raised and educated in Europe. Knight attended the Chigwell School in England for his Liberal Arts Education and began his artistic training, under the guidance of his father. Later he studied formally with the great French Romantic painters, Robert-Fleury and Jules Lefebvre. In 1894 Aston Knight debuted at the Paris Salon, starting a highly acclaimed career. Among his many awards, he won a Bronze medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, an honorable mention at the Paris Salon in 1901, a gold medal in Lyon in 1903, a gold medal in Geneva and in Nantes in 1904 and Gold medals at the Paris Salon in both 1905 and 1906, earning him the title Hors concours as the first American to win two gold medals at the Salon in two consecutive years. Knight, was also made a knight of the Legion of Honor in 1924 becoming an officer in 1928 and eventually a commander in 1934. In the summer of 1907, Caroline Ridgway Brewster spent the last few weeks of her European travels at Beaumont-le- Roger, where she met and fell in love with Louis Aston Knight. Just before she was to return to the States with her mother, Knight asked for her hand in marriage – She accepted and they all left for the States. The wedding was held in Sommerville, New Jersey on October 15, 1907 and they honeymooned at Niagara Falls. The couple returned to France and lived in Paris. For the next 7 years (until the outbreak of World War I) they traveled extensively throughout Europe, spending the month of September in Venice, Italy and making many trips to the States to exhibit his paintings, first at Knoedler Galleries in New York City and later at John Levy Gallery also in New York City. After the outbreak of World War I the Knights returned to the United States and traveled extensively up and down the East Coast, wintering in Florida. In 1919 they returned to France and purchased a country home at Beaumont-le-Roger. This is where he built Diane’s Cottage, the subject of many of his future paintings. Louis Aston Knight is most famous for his French landscapes. You will not find figures in his work, due to an agreement, which he made with his father, in order to keep their work from looking too similar. This was however unnecessary, because their work is very different. Ridgway Knight painted tightly, while Aston Knight's work shows a much stronger influence of the Impressionists with whom he was friendly. Aston looked up to Claude Monet, and visited him from time to time at his home in Giverny. He was particularly impressed with Monet's gardens, and strove to cultivate a garden as beautiful as the master's. Knight also awarded prizes each year to the neighboring peasants who kept the nicest gardens. This ensured him of good models for his cottage landscape paintings. Gradually Aston Knight became well known in the New York art scene and began to do some of his work in the states. In 1911, Knoedler and Co., held an exhibition of his landscapes of the U.S.A. and France. During the 1930’s the Knights spent only about 3 months a year in France, In fact his exhibition at the Levy Gallery in New York, in 1931 attracted so much attention that "Art News" critiqued the show (26 December issue) and described his fame and plein air approach: A group of new landscapes by Aston Knight, the popular painter of the Normandy Riverscape, is the Holiday attraction at the Levy Gallery. Mr. Knight sticks closely to his well established formula, doubtless due to the tremendous acclaim acquired in his earlier years when Hopkinson Smith publicized him as the "painter in the high rubber boots" for Mr. Knight was not content with studying the action of the Normandy streams from the comfortable banks....he used to don a pair of waist high rubber boots and setting up his easel in mid stream, paint the purling waters at first hand, often with a fly rod by his side, ready to catch the unsuspecting trout. Aston Knight was a favorite of American presidents in his day. In 1922, President Harding purchased a Louis Aston Knight, to hang in the White House, and President Coolidge held a private exhibition of Knight's work during his presidency. In June of 1940, after the fall of France in World War II the Knights returned to their apartment in New York City, where they lived until their deaths. Many of his works have had international acclaim and are housed in the art collections of the Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University; Strong Museum, Rochester, New York; and the Hudson River Museum of Westchester. Exhibitions: Knoedler & Co., N.Y., Dec 26, 1911 – Jan 6, 1912 Detroit Museum of Art, March 18 – 30, 1914 Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY, May 1918 John Levy Galleries, N.Y., Nov. 25 – Dec. 7, 1935. This essay is copyrighted by Rehs Galleries, Inc. and may not be reproduced or transmitted without written permission from Rehs Galleries, Inc.