Contact gallery for price		Louis Aston Knight American b 1873-1948 Cottage along Canal with Village in the Distance Oil on canvas 18 x 21 inches 27 x 31 inches framed Signed lower right: Aston Knight Louis Aston Knight, was the son of the American expatriate artist, Daniel Ridgway Knight. Born in Paris in 1873, Louis, unlike his father, had the privilege to be brought up in a home where he was surrounded by art and music. Raised and educated in Europe, Louis attended the Chigwell School in England for his Liberal Arts Education and began his artistic training, under the guidance of his father. Later he studied formally with the great French Romantic painters, Robert-Fleury and Jules Lefebvre. In 1894 Aston Knight debuted at the Paris Salon, starting a highly acclaimed career. Among his many awards, he won a Bronze medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, an honorable mention at the Paris Salon in 1901, a gold medal in Lyon in 1903, a gold medal in Geneva and in Nantes in 1904 and Gold medals at the Paris Salon in both 1905 and 1906, earning him the title Hors concours as the first American to win two gold medals at the Salon in two consecutive years. Knight, was also made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1924 becoming an Officer in 1928 and eventually a Commander in 1934. Louis Aston Knight is most famous for his French landscapes executed in and around his home in Beaumont-le-Roger. Aston looked up to Claude Monet, and visited him from time to time at his home in Giverny. He was particularly impressed with Monet's gardens, and strove to cultivate a garden as beautiful as the master's. Knight also awarded prizes each year to the neighboring peasants who kept the nicest gardens. This ensured him of good models for his cottage landscape paintings.