DAME LAURA KNIGHT, R.A., R.W.S. (BRITISH, 1877-1970)

This misty, dreamlike sunrise can stylistically be dated to the period Knight spent in the Malvern Hills following the Second World War. Knight wrote that she had a ‘rage for painting dawns’ and was particularly interested in the effects of mist at this time (L. Knight, The Magic of a Line, London, 1965, p. 270). The loose handling and lack of figures or detail is typical of watercolours of this post-war period, when she took comfort in vast expanses of landscape and sky, as ‘nature herself blots it out’ (L. Knight, ibid, p. 309).

This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Dame Laura Knight currently being prepared by R. John Croft F.C.A., the artist’s great-nephew.