Daniel Ridgway Knight | A Halt, 1890

After Daniel Ridgway Knight’s first artistic successes in Paris, Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissioner invited him to move to Poissy, a rural town not far outside the city limits. The renowned Meissonier was impressed with Ridgway Knight's talent and offered his protégé advice and a challenge: to paint a large picture from a recent sketch.

Ridgway Knight boldly met his mentor's goal, and the resulting painting of 1875, Les Laveuses (sold in these rooms April 25, 2006, lot 142) set him in a new direction, informing a series of ambitious and complex multi-figural compositions, like the present work.

Nina Reznichenko , 1973 | Abstract painter

Ukrainian painter Nina Reznichenko was born in Bukovyna. She graduated from Vyzhnytsia College of Applied Arts.

She is a member of the Ukrainian National Society of Artists, member of International association of Artists' Art without Borders.

Nina is a very poetic artist. Her painting is spontaneous, irrational and tends to abstraction. This is a play of light and deep shadows, textures of pasty strokes and transparency of oil paint drips, which turns into an image of bouquets and landscapes.

Nina Reznichenko took part in many exhibitions in Ukraine, Europe, UK, USA. Her paintings are in private collections in different countries.

Henri Fantin-Latour | Marie-Yolande de Fitz-James, 1867

This portrait depicts Marie-Yolande de Fitz-James, the 12-year-old daughter of Édouard de Fitz-James (French soldier, politician, Peer of France, and 6th Duke of Fitz-James, who descended from the British House of Stuart, 1776-1838).

Fantin-Latour painted a series of portraits of her family members in preparation for a large group portrait that was never completed.

Although Fantin-Latour frequently exhibited with his close friend Édouard Manet and the Impressionists, he remained committed to traditional studio production and never painted outdoors.

Henri Fantin-Latour | Marie-Yolande de Fitz-James, 1867 | Cleveland Museum of Art

Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), known for his portraits and flower still lifes, never shared the artistic viewpoint of his friends and contemporaries, the Impressionists.

He remained a traditional academic painter throughout his career and the style of this portrait reflects the romanticism of an earlier generation. | Cleveland Museum of Art

Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret | Naturalist / Genre painter

Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (January 7, 1852 - July 3, 1929), was one of the leading French artists of the Naturalist school, best known for his painstakingly detailed re-creations of peasant scenes.

He also created portraits and religious paintings.

He was born in Paris, the son of a tailor, and was raised by his grandfather after his father emigrated to Brazil.

Henri Fantin-Latour | Summer Flowers, 1880

The inscription in the upper-right-hand corner indicates that Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) completed this painting in September 1880 at the village of Buré in Normandy.

The dahlias, phlox, and roses in the bouquet were picked from the garden of the artist’s country house.

By this date, Fantin had established a steady clientele in Britain for his exquisite paintings of informal flower arrangements, set in modest vases and seen against a neutral ground. | Source: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Henri Fantin-Latour | Summer Flowers, 1880 | Metropolitan Museum of Art