Portrait of Judith Brooks Knight

In 1899, Cecilia Beaux was heralded by her esteemed colleague William Merritt Chase as "not only the greatest living woman painter, but the best that has ever lived." Today, such a qualified accolade may be interpreted as a backhanded compliment; Beaux herself rejected the term "woman painter."

Born to an American mother and a French father, Beaux began to study art at the age of eighteen in Philadelphia. Beaux continued her studies in Europe in 1888-9, where she studied portraiture and painted en plein air. The young artist studied at Académie Julian, Paris, worked in Concarneaux, Brittany, and traveled in Italy. Upon her return to Philadelphia, she became the first woman to teach full-time at the Pennsylvania Academy. This portrait of Judith Brooks Knight exemplifies the artist’s loose, sketchy approach to brushwork, especially in the figure’s floral dress.