The Flower Drawings of Miss Knip: Henrietta Geertruij Knip, the first woman painter within the Knip family at the beginning of the nineteenth century

Henriëtta Geertruij Knip (1783-1842) who descended from a humble background and lived in a time of great political upheaval and limited possibilities for women to establish a professional career as a painter, managed to do just that. She was part of the Knip family, a dynasty of painters that started of with her father Nicolaas Frederik Knip (1741-1808). She was not the first in the tradition of women painters in the Netherlands. The seventeenth and eighteenth century had offered chances, provided that there was an artistic or educated background. This was still the same at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Only through schooling by her father and thanks to the favourable connection with Gerard van Spaendonck (1756-1839) could a professional career as a painter be possible for a woman like Henriëtta Geertruij Knip. Apart from proven talent, there was financial necessity to train as many family members as possible, in case support was needed. This was the reason the Knip...Show moreHenriëtta Geertruij Knip (1783-1842) who descended from a humble background and lived in a time of great political upheaval and limited possibilities for women to establish a professional career as a painter, managed to do just that. She was part of the Knip family, a dynasty of painters that started of with her father Nicolaas Frederik Knip (1741-1808). She was not the first in the tradition of women painters in the Netherlands. The seventeenth and eighteenth century had offered chances, provided that there was an artistic or educated background. This was still the same at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Only through schooling by her father and thanks to the favourable connection with Gerard van Spaendonck (1756-1839) could a professional career as a painter be possible for a woman like Henriëtta Geertruij Knip. Apart from proven talent, there was financial necessity to train as many family members as possible, in case support was needed. This was the reason the Knip relatives worked together. It was possible for Henriëtta Geertruij Knip to travel to Paris by herself because two of her brothers were already there and she could stay in Maison Buffon under the supervision of Gerard van Spaendonck. She was probably financially supported by her older brother Josephus Augustus Knip (1777-1847), who was also a painter. Although Van Spaendonck had several women pupils, Henriëtta Geertruij Knip was the only one Dutch. She started out with botanical drawings and flower and fruit still lifes in water colour but after 1822 she would paint in oil paint. For this she was schooled in Paris again, this time by Jan Frans van Dael (1764-1840). She was trained in a traditional eighteenth century style but later works show elements of Romanticism when bouquets contained less different types of flowers and were placed in a more natural setting. Thirty-two works have been found that could have been made by Henriëtta Geertruij Knip but only ten are signed and dated and six are signed. If this number should prove to be true this means she produced less than one work per year during the estimated fourty-four years of her working life. This would mean that the money she generated from teaching made up the larger part of her income. However, it is more likely the location of many works is unknown or that works got lost. When looked at the careers of fellow women pupils of Gerard van Spaendonck and Jan Frans van Dael it is clear that these women took their painting very seriously and made it into their formal careers even though some may not have depended on the income. This having been her example it is no surprise that Henriëtta Geertruij Knip took part in the very first Tentoonstelling van Levende Meesters that was held in 1808 in the Netherlands. She was the only woman who did so together with her then sister-in-law Pauline Knip-Rifer de Courcelles (1781-1851). Henriëtta Geertruij Knip took part ten times and always together with relatives, like her older brother Josephus Augustus Knip, nephew Augustus Knip (1819-1859/1861) and/or her niece Henriëtte Ronner-Knip (1821-1909). Until 1821 she took part with water colours and from 1830 onwards she presented herself with oil paintings. Most of the times she participated with less works than her relatives and works were not always for sale. Nevertheless she presented herself as a professional painter with a steady work flow. Although Henriëtta Geertruij Knip had many pupils, the name of only one is still known, Elisabeth Johanna Stapert (1816-1887). The reason could be that she had a career as well. She also generated an income through teaching and taking part in exhibitions but got married later in life, although she did not stop working. Other women artists who came after Henriëtta Geertruij Knip like her niece Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, Sientje Mesdag-van Houten (1834-1909) and Thérèse Schwartze (1851-1918) all had more opportunities to present themselves in art societies like Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam and Pulchri Studio in The Hague. These had not been there during Henriëtta Geertruij Knip’s days. By 1871 and 1872 it would even have been possible to receive vocational training at the art academies of Amsterdam or The Hague. All aforementioned women were still trained by their fathers or other painters. The fact that they had successful careers in different genres than flower still lifes with many memberships in art societies and husbands that supported them, does show that opportunities had expanded as the nineteenth century progressed. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the nineteenth century Henriëtta Geertruij Knip seized opportunities like training in Paris, taking part in the Tentoonstellingen van Levende Meesters. She was sensitive to new developments in art, participated in the Knip family and was well able to earn her own income and present herself as a professional artist.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

The Flower Drawings of Miss Knip: Henrietta Geertruij Knip, the first woman painter within the Knip family at the beginning of the nineteenth century