The Priory Ruins, Oil Painting by William Knight

A fine oil on canvas depicting the ruins of a priory by William Knight 1872-1958. The work depicts the ruins of Ulverscroft Priory in Leicestershire. The technique is wonderfully bold with a great use of colour. The painting is in excellent untouched condition and is signed to the lower left. William Knight (1872-1958) was a painter, designer and teacher who was born in Leicester and attended Leicester College of Art, where he later taught. After working for his father as a painter and decorator he ran off to London where he studied at Heatherley’s School of Fine Art. He later travelled to Paris to pursue a career as an artist this was despite family disapproval. His earlier work concentrated on figure studies in watercolour, but after 1908 he painted only in oil. He exhibited widely including at The Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Academy, and Royal Institute of Oil Painters as well as extensively in Europe and North America. The Victoria & Albert Museum holds his designs for printing and Leicester Museum and Art Gallery holds his oil paintings. This is a classic example of his work and retains an original exhibition label on the reverse. The painting is framed in the original ebonised frame which is in good untouched condition and gives the whole a very stylish modern look.