Joseph August Knip (sometimes Latinized to Josephus Augustus Knip; baptized 3 August 1777 in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

– buried 1 October 1847 in

Berlicum Berlicum is a town in the south of the Netherlands, located in North Brabant's Meierij region near the city of 's-Hertogenbosch and the river Aa. The town was most likely founded between 600 and 700 AD. It was a municipality along with the villa ...

) was a Dutch painter.

Biography

Son of decorative painter Nicolaas Frederik Knip, who was his first teacher, he moved with his family to

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

when he was eleven years old. In 1794, the

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besieged and captured the town. At nineteen he became the family breadwinner after his father went blind. He was the first teacher of his younger sister Henriëtte Geertruida Knip. In 1801, he established himself in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he accepted commissions for

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paintings. He also became drawing master to

Napoleon III of France Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of m ...

. He spent nine years in Paris. At the end of 1809 he went to Rome, where he remained until 1812. He also travelled, making trips to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, the

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, the

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, and the

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s exist from these trips, from places ranging from

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...

Terni Terni ( ; ; ) is a city in the southern portion of the region of Umbria, in Central Italy. It is near the border with Lazio. The city is the capital of the province of Terni, located in the plain of the Nera (Tiber), River Nera. It is northeast ...

. In 1813, he returned to the Netherlands with his wife, the painter Pauline Rifer de Courcelles. He settled in 's-Hertogenbosch, where he worked as a painter. He later lived in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and in Paris. He went blind in 1832, after which he was given a

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was King of the Netherlands and List of monarchs of Luxembourg, Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840. Born as the son of William V, Prince of Orange, ...

. His daughter, of whom he was the first teacher, was

Henriëtte Ronner-Knip Henriëtte Ronner-Knip (; 31 May 1821 – 28 February 1909) was a Dutch-Belgian artist chiefly in the Romanticism, Romantic style who is best known for her still life animal paintings; especially cats. Biography She was born in Amsterdam int ...

, who was named after his sister.

References

*Philip Conisbee, Sarah Faunce, and Jeremy Strick. ''In the Light of Italy: Corot and Early Open-Air Painting''. New Haven; Yale University Press, 1996.
Knip, Josephus Augustus
in the RKD databases 1777 births 1847 deaths 19th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters People from Tilburg Painters from North Brabant 19th-century Dutch male artists {{Netherlands-painter-stub