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The Shepherdess of Rolleboise

Daniel Ridgway Knight

American Art

A dreamy mood prevails in this dignified image of a French shepherdess. The pastoral setting provides a poetic backdrop to her youth and beauty, creating a picture that erases the social realities of peasant life. Daniel Ridgway Knight, who was born in Philadelphia and expatriated to France in the early 1870s, was well aware of this painting's potential for success when it debuted at the Paris Salon in 1896; it combined the silvery gray palette and romanticized peasant subject matter that were then popular in Europe and in the United States.

MEDIUM Oil on canvas
DATES 1896
DIMENSIONS 68 x 50 1/2 in. (172.7 x 128.2 cm) frame: 78 5/8 x 61 1/2 x 4 7/8 in. (199.7 x 156.2 x 12.4 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed lower right: "Ridgway Knight / Paris 1896"
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 98.14
CREDIT LINE Gift of Abraham Abraham
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Daniel Ridgway Knight (American, 1839–1924). The Shepherdess of Rolleboise, 1896. Oil on canvas, 68 x 50 1/2 in. (172.7 x 128.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Abraham Abraham, 98.14 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 98.14_PS22.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 98.14_PS22.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024
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