Henriëtte Ronner-Knip

Henriëtte Ronner-Knip (Dutch pronunciation: [ɦɑ̃ːriˈjɛtə ˈrɔnər ˈknɪp]; 31 May 1821 – 28 February 1909) was a Dutch-Belgian artist chiefly in the Romantic style who is best known for her still life animal paintings; especially cats.

She was born in Amsterdam into a family of artists and received her first lessons from her father, Joseph August Knip, who also gave lessons to her aunt (his youngest sister), Henriëtte Geertruida Knip. His father, Nicolaas (1741–1808), was an artist as well. Some sources indicate that her mother was Pauline Rifer de Courcelles, a painter of birds, who was her father's first wife but, at the time of her birth, they were apparently separated and he was living with his mistress, Cornelia van Leeuwen (1790–1848), who is also credited with being Henriëtte's mother.

The family moved often as her father found work giving lessons. But, by 1823, her father was already blind in one eye. The following year, he and Rifer de Courcelles were finally divorced and he married Leeuwen.