Henriëtte Ronner-Knip (; 31 May 1821 – 28 February 1909) was a Dutch-Belgian artist chiefly in the
Romantic style who is best known for her still life animal paintings; especially
cat
The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
s.
Biography
She was born in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
into a family of artists and received her first lessons from her father,
Joseph August Knip, who also gave lessons to her aunt (his youngest sister),
Henriëtte Geertruida Knip. His father, Nicolaas (1741–1808), was an artist as well. Some sources indicate that her mother was
Pauline Rifer de Courcelles, a painter of birds, who was her father's first wife but, at the time of her birth, they were apparently separated and he was living with his mistress, Cornelia van Leeuwen (1790–1848), who is also credited with being Henriëtte's mother.
[Brief biography](_blank)
@ Huygens/Resources.
The family moved often as her father found work giving lessons. But, by 1823, her father was already blind in one eye. The following year, he and Rifer de Courcelles were finally divorced and he married Leeuwen. After he became totally blind in 1832, the family continued to move about, staying for a short time in
The Hague
The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, then
Beek
Beek (; ) is a town and municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, in the province of Limburg. As of 2012, Beek has a population of about 16,400, of which about 8,800 live in the town of Beek.
The municipality of Beek makes part of the re ...
and
's-Hertogenbosch
s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...
before settling in
Berlicum
Berlicum is a town in the south of the Netherlands, located in North Brabant's Meierij region near the city of 's-Hertogenbosch and the river Aa. The town was most likely founded between 600 and 700 AD. It was a municipality along with the villa ...
in 1840.
[Brief biography](_blank)
@ the Rehs Galleries. By this time, she was essentially in charge of the family's finances and legal obligations, and had begun painting seriously by 1835. She was a participant in the
Exhibition of Living Masters in 1838.
After Leeuwen's death, she moved to Amsterdam where she painted farms, animals and forests from nature; first in watercolor, then in oils. That same year, she became the first woman admitted as an "active member" to
Arti et Amicitiae
Arti et Amicitiae (lat .: For Art and Friendship) is a Dutch artist's society founded in 1839, and located on the Rokin in Amsterdam. The Society (also called Arti for short) has played a key role in the Netherlands art scene and in particular in ...
.
In 1850, she married Feico Ronner (1819–1883) and they moved to Brussels. He was often ill and could not be regularly employed, so he became her manager.
At this time, she narrowed her subject matter, focusing almost entirely on dogs and cats. After 1870, she painted her most famous works, featuring long-haired, often playful cats in bourgeois settings. She continued to paint dogs too; notably lapdogs belonging to
Marie Henriette of Austria
Marie Henriette of Austria (Marie Henriette Anne; 23 August 1836 – 19 September 1902) was Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Leopold II. The marriage was arranged against the will of both Marie Henriette and Leopold and became unhappy ...
and
Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Princess Marie Luise Alexandra Karoline of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (17 November 1845 – 26 November 1912), later Countess of Flanders, was a princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later simply of Hohenzollern. She married Prince Philippe, Count ...
.
Ronner-Knip exhibited her work at the
Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to 197 ...
at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...
in Chicago, Illinois.
In her later years, she had a house with a large garden, where she kept hunting dogs, cats and a parrot that she used as models. After observing them in her studio, she would make paper sculptures in the desired poses and set them together with props, such as furniture and fabrics. She occasionally collaborated with the
genre
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
artist,
David Col
Jan David Col (6 April 1822 – 19 February 1900) was a Belgian painter known for his anecdotal genre scenes.
Life and work
He was born in Antwerp and received his initial artistic training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp with Nica ...
.
In 1887, she was awarded the
Order of Leopold and, in 1901, became a member of the
Order of Orange-Nassau
The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands.
The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...
.
Her son
Alfred
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
and daughters
Alice
Alice may refer to:
* Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname
Literature
* Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll
* ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...
and also became artists. She often exhibited with them.
She died on 28 February 1909 in
Ixelles
(French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...
.
Works
File:Henriëtte Ronner-Knip - Katjesspel.jpg, ''Kitten's Game''
File:Henriette-Ronner-Knip-Contentment-105355.jpg, ''Contentment''
File:Henriette Ronner-Knip Kittens at play.jpg, ''Kittens at Play''
File:Henriëtte Ronner-Knip (1821-1909), Katje, 1896, Olieverf op paneel (cropped).JPG, ''Cat Resting''
File:Henriette Ronner Kurze Rast.jpg, ''Cart Dog at Rest''
References
Further reading
* Henry Havard, ''Un peintre de chats. Madame Henriette Ronner'', Boussod, 1892.
*
Marion Harry Spielmann, ''Henriëtte Ronner, the painter of Cat Life and Cat Character'', Century-Crofts, 1893.
* Fransje Kuyvenhoven, Ronald Peeters, ''De familie Knip: drie generaties kunstenaars uit Noord-Brabant'', Waanders, 1988.
* Harry Kraaij, ''Henriette Ronner-Knip, 1821–1909: een virtuoos dierschilderes'', Scriptum Signature, 1998
External links
Ronner-Knip and her paintings@ The Great Cat
Henriëtte Ronner-Knip@ CurioCafe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ronner-Knip, Henriette
1821 births
1909 deaths
19th-century Dutch painters
Dutch women painters
Painters from Amsterdam
Cat artists
Dog artists
Recipients of the Order of Orange-Nassau
19th-century Belgian women painters
19th-century Dutch women painters