Frederick Knab Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1865 - d. 1918

Frederick Knab Was An Artist And Entomologist Active From The 1880s Through The 1918, Most Noted For His Oil Paintings And Illustrations And His Work With Coleopterous And Dipterous Insects. Knab Was Born September 22, 1865, In WÙrzburg, Bavaria And Came To The United States As A Boy Of Eight With His Parents, Oscar And Josephine Knab, Who Settled In Chicopee, Massachusetts In 1873. His Father Was An Engraver And Painter And An Uncle Was Court Painter To The King Of Bavaria. In His Youth, Knab Showed Artistic Talent And A Strong Interest In The Natural Sciences, Especially Entomology. In 1885, Knab Undertook A Sixteen Month Collecting Trip Up The Amazon River, Traveling From Its Mouth To Peru. He Kept A Journal Of His Expedition, Which Formed An Important Source Of Experience For His Later Scientific Career. In 1889, He Went To Europe And Studied Art For Two Years At The Munich Academy, And Then Established A Studio In Chicopee With The Intention Of Making Landscape Painting His Profession. Knab Died In Washington, D.c. On November 2, 1918, After A Long And Painful Battle With Leishmaniasis Contracted During His Expedition To Brazil In 1885-1886, Which He Himself Diagnosed Through Study Of The South American Medical Literature.