Hendrik Knip descended from a Dutch painting dynasty, whose members included his famous uncle, Joseph August Knip (1777-1847), who enjoyed great success in Paris after 1823, as well as his cousin, Henriette Ronner-Knip (1821-1909), whose pictures of cats and other animals had an astonishing following.
Hendrik studied in his native 's-Hertogenbosch with his father, Marten Derk Knip (1785-1845), who also headed a successful studio as a landscape painter. Hendrik adopted his father’s eccentric use of colour, which would soon become the trademark of his gouaches. In particular, the palette’s reduction to yellow, green, and blue tones, and the soft transitions and areas of illumination still give his works an unmistakable atmosphere.
After extended travels, Hendrik Knip founded his own studio in Brussels in 1858 and regular contributed to the annual art exhibitions there.