Knoedler & Cie., Paris (in 1881)
H. & P. de Casseres, London
John Levy Galleries, New York (before 1941)
Mr. and Mrs. Hubert K. Dalton, Rumsen, New Jersey (and sold, Sotheby Parke Bernet, October 16, 1941, lot 72, illustrated)
M. Goldblatt (acquired at the above sale)
Neff Collection, Chicago
Knoedler & Co., New York  (no. KMC 1477)
The Armand Hammer Collection, Los Angeles (acquired from the above in 1987)
Hammer Galleries, New York, circa 2008

Paris, Salon, 1881, no. 1255
Ithaca, New York, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University; New York, Christie's; St. Petersburg, Florida, Museum of Fine Arts; Memphis, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, A Pastoral Legacy, Paintings and Drawings by the American Artists Ridgway Knight and Aston Knight, May 5, 1989-February 28, 1990, no. 11 (and illustrated as cover, lent by The Armand Hammer Collection)

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This large canvas is unlined and although the cracking is slightly raised, the paint layer is stable. The fact that the painting is unlined is certainly noteworthy. The painting has been cleaned and varnished recently and should be hung in its current state. Under ultraviolet light examination, no restorations can be detected. Being an early picture by the artist it is more vigorously painted than his later work; the quality of the work is of a high level and the thinness which develops in the later works does not appear here. Despite the raised cracking in the sky, the painting should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

After Ridgway Knight’s first artistic successes in Paris, Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissioner invited him to move to Poissy, a rural town not far outside the city limits. The renowned Meissonier was impressed with Ridgway Knight's talent, and offered his protégé advice and a challenge: to paint a large picture from a recent sketch.  Ridgway Knight boldly met his mentor's goal, and the resulting painting of 1875, Les Laveuses (sold in these rooms April 25, 2006, lot 142, illustrated), together with Le repos de moissonneurs (see lot 23) set him in a new direction, informing a group of complex compositions, like Après un Déjeuner: Bords de la Seine, that firmly established his international fame. Completed in 1881, the panoramic landscape and the finely detailed figures of Après un Déjeuner: Bords de la Seine continue to reveal Meissonier's influence and academic style, while also possessing Ridgway Knight's distinct, often romantic, expression of peasant life. In the present work, a group of washerwomen break for lunch — with crusts of bread, a cast-aside soup pot and nearly empty wine bottle suggesting a meal enjoyed while piles of laundry lay forgotten at the river's edge. At the center of the composition, an older woman entertains her fresh-faced companions with a story; on the horizon, washerwomen and a shepherdess, have already returned to work.

As a proponent of painting en plein air, Ridgway Knight closely studied natural light effects, and he effectively depicts the strong afternoon sun spilling over the women, placed in relief against the landscape.  Each detail of their costumes, facial expressions, skin tones, and postures are carefully described to suggest how the efforts of  "simple" tasks affected the women of Poissy as they aged from young maidens to wiser elders.  Such an idealization of the rural laborer followed themes established earlier in the nineteenth century by Léopold Robert (1794-1835) and popularized by Ridgway Knight's contemporaries, including Jules Breton.  Further, in the present work Ridgway Knight adds an easily understood narrative element, likely in response to late nineteenth century collectors' love of genre subjects.  Indeed, when exhibited at the Salon of 1881, Après un Déjeuner: Bords de la Seine illustrated the catalogue’s assertion that "it is genre painting which obtains the greatest success, not only in… [this year's Salon] but also in all the Salons possible and imaginable.  Indeed, to be understood, it requires neither a lengthy… effort nor serious previous studies, nor repeated visits to Europe's various museums; most of the time… it entertains like an operetta" (introductory text to the Paris Salon catalogue of 1881 as quoted and translated in A Pastoral Legacy, n.p.).