Her First Love
This painting is a copy of Frederick Samuel Beaumont’s (1861-1954) work Little Timidity which appeared at the Royal Academy in 1885. The demand for pleasant genre scenes and images of bygone days were in great demand during the height of the Victorian era and many artists looked to fill the need.
Merton purchased this painting from the Autumn Exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. The Gallery often featured work that had been shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London. He wrote: ‘I invariably visited the Walker Art Gallery there [Liverpool] and made purchases of one, two, three or even more pictures at the autumn exhibition…’
Knowles studied at the Manchester School of Art. He was an academic artist and, like many of his contemporaries, he combined his formal academic training with the bright colours and quick brushstrokes of the Impressionists to create his finished works.
Knowles was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA), the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, where he exhibited 108 works, and the Royal Institute of Painters in Oil-Colours (ROI) where he displayed 91 works.
