Joseph Knight was a celebrated British painter of landscapes and scenes, primarily known for his naturalistic depictions of North Wales.
Raised amid the hurried industrious streets of Chorlton-Upon-Medlock in Manchester, Knight was obliged to pursue a career at one of its many cotton mills. His father, also Joseph Knight, was a mill engineer and would’ve expected his son to follow suit. It appears he was sent to work at the age of four - unthinkable today, but not uncommon in the 1840s.
In around 1841, Knight was involved in an accident, which resulted in the loss of his right arm. This probably coincided with him being sent, together with his siblings, to stay with relatives, Thomas and Jane Knight, also of Chorlton. Evidently, following this, he undertook a change of direction, taking the first steps on a path to artistry.
During the mid to late 19th century, landscape paintings grew in popularity partly due to the desires of a new middle-class buyer but also as a tonic for increasing urbanisation. And perhaps there’s no better example of an artist who understood the restorative qualities of nature than Joseph Knight.
In his early teens, he gained employment at a photography studio, primarily assisting with portraiture. With a keen eye for composition, his skills flourished and were met with much approval from staff and customers alike. It was here that he first met with Mr. Henry Crowley who was so taken by the boy’s aptitude that he encouraged him to seek a career as a painter. Crowley funded his education, enrolling him at the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, where the emphasis was on honing one’s draughtsmanship in a strict environment via diligent study and life drawing.
With his technique now evolved, commissions were forthcoming - both as a painter and photographer. In the 1861 census, now married, he records his occupation as ‘Photographic artist and painter in oil’. It’s plausible that he was involved in adding tints to photographic portraits during this period while also working as a painter.
As recognition of his development, in 1868, he was elected as a full member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, and a year later debuted at London’s Royal Academy with ‘Evening, Near Quimper, Brittany’ and ‘Breton Peasants’. It was around this time that he came to the attention of several of his younger contemporaries who viewed his naturalistic approach as altogether fresher and entirely modern. In a quiet rebellion against their formulaic training, they undertook to paint directly from nature, ‘en plein air’, without the rigour of academic constraints. The group, which included Joshua Anderson Hague (1850-1916) and John Herbert Evelyn Partington (1843-1899), gathered at Knight’s studio to share ideas and discuss emerging techniques. Somewhat inspired by the French ‘Barbizon School’ painters, they were initially derided by the critics yet paved the way for future generations.
Knight’s work during his time in Manchester was compelling and innovative but he’s best remembered for his picturesque views of North Wales. He adored the diversity of the Welsh countryside, moving first to Bettws Y Coed, the gateway to monumental Snowdonia, and later to Llanrhos in Conway.
Here, in this work from 1897, he captured a wide-sweeping moor with shimmering water enlivened by a horizontal flash of brilliant white. Cattle graze in verdant pasture, shaded by gentle peaks, with low-lying clouds guiding the eye towards a hazy tinted horizon. It’s possibly Denbigh Moors, an upland region between Snowdonia and the Clwydian Range.
A Victorian critic described his works as “all instinct with the feeling of awe and solemnity which filled his soul when gazing upon nature”. Another proclaimed that “no English painter in our time has felt and communicated through his paint a more sincere and intense emotion in the presence of the grandeur and desolation of high moorland.”
Joseph Knight exhibited at the Royal Academy for 35 years and was elected a member of the Dudley Gallery, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, the Royal Etchers, the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, the Limners Club and Art-Min-Afon, Betws-y-Coed. He’s represented in numerous public collections including at the British Museum, Tate Britain, and the V&A.
Exhibited
Royal Academy, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Manchester Academy, Royal Cambrian Academy, and Society of Painter-Etchers.
Public Collections
The British Museum, Tate Britain, V&A Museum, National Museums Liverpool, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Bury Art Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Salford Museum & Art Gallery, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Walker Art Gallery.
Timeline
1837
Born in Chorlton-Upon-Medlock, Manchester, to Joseph Knight, an engineer at a cotton mill, and Eliza Knight.
1841
Probably lived in Chorlton-Upon-Medlock, Lancashire, with Thomas Grant Knight, Jane Knight (nee Green), and siblings.
Suffered an accident, which resulted in the amputation of his right arm.
Trained as a photographer’s assistant.
1850
Trained at the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts.
1851
Lived in Chorlton-Upon-Medlock, Lancashire, with his parents and siblings.
1859
Married Elizabeth Radford in Chorlton-Upon-Medlock, Lancashire. Occupation recorded as ‘Photographic Artist’.
1861
Lived in Chorlton on Medlock, Lancashire, with his wife, and daughter Clementina. Occupation recorded as ‘Photographic artist and painter in oil.’
1868
Elected a member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts.
1869
Debuted at the Royal Academy with ‘Evening, Near Quimper, Brittany’ and ‘Breton Peasants’. 58 works were shown between 1869 and 1899.
1871
Lived in Chorlton on Medlock, Lancashire, with his wife, seven children and two servants. Occupation recorded as ‘Artist. Landscape & Figure in oils & watercolours.’
1874
Awarded a prize of £20 by the council of the Royal Manchester Institution for his drawing ‘Theologians’.
1875
Moved to North Wales.
1877
‘Tidal River’ acquired by the Chantrey Trustees for £200.
1878
111 works shown at the Brazennose Club in Manchester.
1879
Withdrew from the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts.
1881
Lived in Bettws Y Coed, Wales, with his wife and six children. Occupation recorded as ‘Artist (Painter)’.
1882
Elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colours.
1883
Re-elected a member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts.
1891
Lived in Bettws Y Coed, Wales, with his wife and three children. Occupation recorded as ‘Artist, Landscape Painter’.
Awarded a medal at the Paris Exhibition.
1901
Lived in Llanrhos, Conway, Wales, with his wife and two children. Occupation recorded as ‘Landscape painter / Engraver mezzotint’.
1909
Died in Bryn Glas near Conway, Wales.
Obituaries
The Daily News
“Mr. Joseph Knight, whose death was announced yesterday, is often stated to have been one of the many practically self-taught landscape painters.
This, however, is not quite accurate. Born at Manchester in 1838, he attended a day school there till he was 13, whereupon he became a pupil in the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts.
One of the very best of his landscapes, ‘Mountain Mist,’ painted in the neighbourhood of Capel Curig, is in the public gallery at Manchester; and in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, is ‘Showery Weather,’ a scene on the banks of the Conway, painted in 1876. The following year Mr. Knight's ‘Tidal River,’ No. 329 at the Royal Academy, attracted the attention of the Chantrey Trustees, who bought it for £200.
Since 1869, when he showed a couple of Breton subjects, Mr. Knight has seldom gone unrepresented at the Academy, but he never appears to have been nominated for Associateship. In 1882 he was made a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colours, and his drawings, highly particularised, now broader in touch, but always conscientious, have been a familiar feature at its exhibitions. He was also a member of the Painter-Etchers, sending for the most part original mezzotints, often with interesting skies.
For the past fifteen years or so Mr. Knight has lived near Conway, and he has given his support, as a member, to the Royal Cambrian Academy.”
The Manchester Courier
“Manchester people more than any other community will regret the death of Mr. Joseph Knight, the veteran landscape painter. Born in this city in 1837, the art which has made him famous has little connection with the locality. It is in North Wales that we find the scenes he loved to depict, and, after his early struggles, it was in and about the Conway Valley that he found his true home, and ‘heard from far the voice of fame.’
Much as he owed to training and environment, he owed still more to temperament. He was not incapable of versatility, but deliberately he chose the rare, evanescent and, be it said, poetical aspects of nature. The ‘Lifting Mist’ of the Municipal Gallery is a fine specimen of his best work, and he was one of the artists whose output, whether in oils, water-colours, or mezzotint engraving, was easily recognised and almost inevitably admired. The result was at times a suspicion of mannerism, a limitation. But another exhibition would give proof of his almost magical power of investing an oft-treated subject with new beauty, or with a touch of solemnity and mystery that revealed unsuspected resources. Of evening with its melancholy, of mountain grandeur softened by the play of subdued light, of wide sweeping estuaries yielding far-reaching, lovely vistas, of moonlight and dawn, he knew the secret, and he was able to interpret it to his fellow men.
His chief guerdon was joy in his art and the knowledge that it was appreciated by an ever-growing circle of admirers. As an engraver, his work was delicate, refined and restrained. It is well for the beauty of the world that such a man as Joseph Knight has lived and laboured.”
The Halifax Daily Guardian
“There are several residents in Halifax who have pictures by Mr. Joseph Knight, R.A., who will regret to hear of that artist's death at Deganwy, North Wales. He was a remarkable man, and his work was considered all the more wonderful as Mr. Knight only had the use of his left hand, having lost his right in an accident at a Lancashire mill when a boy.
His speciality was water colours, and a feature of his work was the simplicity of his subjects. His colouring was of a beautiful character, and he had a splendid conception of the value of a scene, which he could enhance to a remarkable degree. During the last twenty years he has produced mezzotints with much success. The value of his works may be judged by the fact that he has been continually represented at the Royal Academy for the past 35 years, and that the Leeds, Manchester, and Liverpool Corporations have each a picture of his in their principal gallery worth about £300. Mr. Knight was a personal friend of Mr. Gray, the art dealer, of George Street, Halifax, who has on view several beautiful specimens of the deceased artist's works.”
Yorkshire Post
“The career of Mr. Joseph Knight, R.I., who has died at Bryn Glas, near Conway, furnishes an instance of the way in which talent allied to energy and self-confidence may overcome apparently invincible difficulties. Born in Manchester in 1837, Mr. Knight found his early opportunities restricted by lack of means, and the loss of his left arm in an accident was an added barrier to advancement. He sought work as a photographer's assistant, however, and his better art was soon apparent. With the aid of friends among whom were the late Mr. Henry Crowley and Mr. G. W. Bullock, he was able to make headway in the pursuit of art, and his assiduous study of theory and practice bore fruit when his pictures found acceptance at the Royal Academy, an experience which was often repeated. He lived for the most part in the country and worked directly from nature.
In 1878 he received a marked compliment and a flattering acknowledgment of his ability and standing by the collection of a large number of his works and their exhibition in the rooms of the Brazennose Club in Manchester. The catalogue contained lithography illustrations of forty-two of the pictures, sketched by himself and a number of his brother artists - a kind and friendly testimony of their appreciation of his talents and of their personal goodwill and regard. Mr. Knight was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, of the Council of the Dudley Gallery, London, and of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. He is represented in the permanent collections of the Royal Academy, of South Kensington, Salford, and Liverpool. Two of his pictures have been bought for the nation, and one of them is in the Tate Gallery.”
The Weekly News
“A ‘Grand Old Man’ of the world of Art has passed away in the person of Mr. Joseph Knight, who at the age of seventy has died at his Welsh home near the quaint old town of Conway which he loved so well. In another column we tell the story of the difficulties which this brave man overcame before he attained the position of eminence which he had occupied for some years. Here we should like to pay our tribute to an artist who has so sincerely and so faithfully interpreted the unique natural beauties of North Wales. In this matter Mr. Knight stood prominently in a noble company whose names include those of David Cox, Hubert Herkomer, and Clarence Whaite. Year after year we have looked forward with pleasure to seeing Joseph Knight's pictures of Welsh scenery at the Plas Mawr exhibitions, and never have our expectations been disappointed.
A more conscientious artist never put brush to canvas, and few indeed are they who have depicted with such marvellous truth the typical scenes of our district. The grandeur and desolation of our rugged mountains made an irresistible appeal to his intense love of nature and his great artistic powers, and his works are all instinct with the feeling of awe and solemnity which filled his soul when gazing upon nature in her severest moods. His long series of works of this majestic character reached a fitting climax in the picture ‘Lifting Mist,’ which now occupies an honourable position in the fine collection of paintings in the Manchester Art Gallery. This picture, painted near Capel Curig, is full of the solemnity of Welsh mountain scenery, and is a splendid memorial of the artist by whom it was drawn.”
The Weekly News
“We regret to announce that Mr. Joseph Knight, R.I., the distinguished landscape painter and mezzotint engraver, died on Saturday at Bryn Glas, near Conway.
Mr. Knight was born in Manchester in 1837. His career as a painter supplies a remarkable illustration of the invincible energy of genius. He began life under circumstances exceedingly unfavourable, with narrow means and scanty leisure for self-improvement. To these grave difficulties must be added the loss, by an accident, of his left arm. No longer able to follow his employment, he obtained work as a photographer's assistant. His inborn taste for art here displayed itself, in the skilful suggestion he made as to the attitude of sitters and the successful way in which he posed them for the camera. One of the customers was the late Mr. Henry Crowley, who, much pleased with his shrewd remarks, recommended that he should surrender his situation and give himself wholly to study and work as an artist.
The difficulty of maintenance was met with equal promptitude and generosity, as his patron undertook to find the means of support for a period of three years, taking by way of compensation certain productions of the easel from time to time, but with the condition that he was not to put them on the market in such numbers as to depreciate their value. Mr. Knight gratefully accepted this proposal. He was equally fortunate in the active friendship and kind helpfulness of Mr. G. W. Bullock, who early perceived his promise of exceptional artistic ability, and not alone by advice but with more material assistance fostered his hopes of ultimate distinction and cheered him in his ‘day of small things.’
Mr. Knight devoted himself assiduously both to theory and to practise, mainly in the life classes of the Manchester Academy, and soon justified the expectations his friends had formed of his talents. By the end of the stipulated period Mr. Crowley had obtained a considerable number of valuable drawings, whilst the artist, comfortably supported during the period of probation, had acquired knowledge, skill, and reputation, and had made his future success assured.
Commissions flowed in upon him, and at the Royal Academy his pictures were frequently placed on the line. A marked compliment was paid to him, and a flattering acknowledgement of his ability and standing, by the collection in March, 1878, of a large number (not fewer than 111) of his works and their exhibition in the rooms of the Brazennose Club in Manchester. The catalogue contained lithographed illustrations of forty-two of the pictures, sketched by himself and a number of his brother artists - a kind and friendly testimony to their appreciation of his talents and of their personal goodwill and regard.
Mr. Knight was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, of the Council of the Dudley Gallery, London, and of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. In 1874, he was awarded the prize of £20 by the Council of the Royal Manchester Institution for his drawing ‘Theologians,’ exhibited in the autumn of that year. In 1884, the Corporation purchased his picture ‘Lifting Mist,’ painted near Capel Curig, a work full of the grand solemnity of the mountain scenery of Wales, for which he had a passionate admiration. He is also represented in the permanent collections of the Royal Academy, of South Kensington, Salfold, and Liverpool. Two of his pictures have been bought for the nation; one of them is now in the Tate Gallery.
Mr. Knight lived for the most part in the country and worked directly from nature. He was exceedingly industrious, and when the physical infirmity under which he suffered is borne in mind his patience and courage will be regarded as hardly less remarkable than his artistic ability and success.
As is generally known, Mr. Knight was a foremost member of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, and was for years a regular contributor to the Society's annual exhibition at Plas Mawr, Conway.
Mr. Knight, whose ruling passion was Art, was of a retiring disposition, but amongst his more intimate friends he was splendid company. Like other artists of repute, he spent a considerable time in London. He had always a large store of artistic anecdotes, which he used to tell with great gusto. He had been connected with the Royal Cambrian Academy since 1889.
A Manchester Tribute
Mr. Joseph Knight, whose death we are very sorry to announce today, was a landscape painter whose work almost touched greatness and was sure of a grave and dignified beauty. No English painter in our time has felt and communicated through his paint a more sincere and intense emotion in the presence of the grandeur and desolation of high moorland. He had the ‘deep, authentic mountain thrill,’ and he painted great swelling hills sombrely green, in a vein of solemn, contained poetry, like that which, in everything but metre, is found in Mr. Thomas Hardy's descriptions of Egdon Heath.
In the Manchester Art Gallery's permanent collection he is nobly represented by his portrait of a monumental fell-side, one great homogeneous slab of nature, the painting of it purged clear of every trace of cheap or shallow sentiment, and glowing with the painter's sober passion of delight in its large austerity. In almost every large Manchester exhibition for at least twenty years there was work of his that arrested you by its very abstention from efforts to do so, by its reserve and the fulness with which you felt that the artist's emotion had justified its statement. It shows either how rich we are in talent or how bad we are at sifting it that Joseph Knight was not known more generally as a painter of rare temperament and great achievement.
Impressive Funeral
The funeral of the late Joseph Knight took place yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, leaving the residence, Bryn Glas, at 2:15. The service was conducted in the Parish Church of Conway by Canon Fairchild, of Bangor, and the Vicar of Conway (the Rev. J. W. Roberts), the interment taking place in the Conway Cemetery.
There were present, in addition to the members of the family, Dr. R. Arthur-Prichard (medical adviser), Mr. Owen Rowland, J.P., Mr. Ralph Fisher, C.C., Mr. Sidney Wilson, Mr. Bottomley, Mr. Arthur Wood (Bodlondeb), and Mr. Henry Cole. The following members of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art were present: -George Cockram, Thomas Ellison, B. Fisher, J. Clinton Jones, Anderson Hague, R.I., Julius Hare, Frank W. Longshaw, Alfred F. Perrin, J. C. Salmon, W. J. Slater, Richard Gay Somerset, Charles E. Bentley, Warren Williams, James T. Watts, Albert S. Wood, and J. R. Furness. the Curator. Mr. Tom Heywood represented the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts.
Wreaths were sent by Mrs. Knight and the family at home and abroad, Dr. Prichard, G. Milicent, Moss Read, Luke Francis, Mrs. Wood (Bodlondeb), Miss Dutton (Castle Hotel), Mrs. D. Cobb, Florence Widow, Mrs. Thomas M. Lockwood, Cuthbert C. Grundy, the President and Members of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, and the President and Members of the Manchester Academy of Fine Art, Mr. Knight being a member of both Societies. Mr. Bridge Roberts presided at the organ. The funeral arrangements were efficiently carried out by Messrs. M. & J. Williams, of Conway.”