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Lot Essay
This view is taken from a studio window on Cheyne Walk, possibly from No. 105 (since demolished) near the corner of Milman's Street. No doubt because of the quality of the light on the river, Cheyne Walk had long enjoyed artistic associations; during the nineteenth century famous residents included J.M.W. Turner at what is now No. 119, William Dyce and Daniel Maclise at No. 4, Dante Gabriel Rossetti at No. 16, James Abbott McNeill Whistler at No. 101 (and subsequently No. 96), John Martin at No. 98, Walter and Henry Greaves at No. 103, and Philip Wilson Steer at No. 109.
Although Laura Knight never took her own studio on Cheyne Walk she painted a small number of views of this area of the Thames. The present work looks upriver towards Battersea Reach and the West London Extension (Battersea) Railway Bridge of 1861-3. The artist painted an oil of similar dimensions entitled, Chelsea Embankment which looks in the opposite direction over Battersea Bridge towards Chelsea Bridge; it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1935 as no. 215.
Laura Knight studied at Nottingham School of Art with her future husband, Harold Knight. They lived first in Staithes, Yorkshire and then Cornwall before settling in London in 1919 where, after a short stay in Hampstead, they rented studios in St. John's Wood. Laura Knight was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy from 1903 onwards and in 1936 was one of the first women to be elected a Royal Academician. She painted a wide range of subjects including landscapes, the circus, ballet, theatre, music-hall and gypsies and during the Second World War was a commissioned war artist.
Although Laura Knight never took her own studio on Cheyne Walk she painted a small number of views of this area of the Thames. The present work looks upriver towards Battersea Reach and the West London Extension (Battersea) Railway Bridge of 1861-3. The artist painted an oil of similar dimensions entitled, Chelsea Embankment which looks in the opposite direction over Battersea Bridge towards Chelsea Bridge; it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1935 as no. 215.
Laura Knight studied at Nottingham School of Art with her future husband, Harold Knight. They lived first in Staithes, Yorkshire and then Cornwall before settling in London in 1919 where, after a short stay in Hampstead, they rented studios in St. John's Wood. Laura Knight was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy from 1903 onwards and in 1936 was one of the first women to be elected a Royal Academician. She painted a wide range of subjects including landscapes, the circus, ballet, theatre, music-hall and gypsies and during the Second World War was a commissioned war artist.