Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose
Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose ( in the original English Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose) is a painting by John Singer Sargent, the oil was in the years 1885-86 on canvas. It was purchased in 1887 with funds from the Foundation of Francis Leggatt Chantrey and issued after the construction of the Tate Gallery in 1897 there.
Image description
In the twilight of a summer evening two girls are busy in simple white dresses with it, probably to light with the help of wax sticks in a garden lanterns; their faces are illuminated by the warm light of the candles. From the long grass at her feet everywhere dark red and white carnations stretch up about it are in the background and see also the lower right foreground pink flowering rose bushes. Over the heads of the girls stand on long stalks white lilies. Between the rose bushes and a rod driven into the ground a cord is stretched to the still hanging next to the lanterns that light the girl further, already inflamed part paper lanterns.
Formation
As early as 1884, Sargent had made a Garden Study of the Vickers Children, which also shows two children and almost larger than life lilies. However, the idea to Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose came to him " on a boat trip [ ... ] on the River Thames at Pangbourne in September 1885 with the American artist Edwin Austin Abbey, during which he saw hanging Chinese lanterns between trees and lilies. "
Sargent made a large number of studies on the attitude of the people and to the flowers. As a model it Katherine, then five years old daughter of his fellow painter Francis Davis Millet served first, but soon after, Dorothy "Dolly" and Polly Barnard, the daughter of the illustrator Frederick Barnard. Eleven year old Dolly can be seen on the left side of the picture, the then seven -year-old Polly on the right; they had just the hair color that wished Sargent for the models in the image.
With the greatest care, however, the painter proceeded to capture the atmosphere of the scene. As the evening light every day just for a few minutes just met his expectations, he worked from September until early November 1885 and in the summer of 1886 at the picture until he completed it in October. He let his models take every evening shortly before in the Garden of Millet's house in Broadway, Worcestershire installation and put his brush and palette cope " in anticipation of the few moments in which he the mauve light of dawn " could paint. He then played tennis with friends, and interrupted his game at the right moment for a few minutes to continue the painting with quick brush strokes. When the flowers were withered, Sargent purchased artificial flowers, In November, the girls wore long white sweater under the clothes and the painter himself was " wrapped like a polar explorer ." Sargent scraped repeated the work of the previous evening in the picture above, to correct it on the following night, and he was separated at the left of the screen about 60 inches from the screen, " to concentrate the composition." The name of the image is taken from the to the time very popular song wreath ( wreath ), also Ye shepherds Tell Me ( your shepherd, tell me ) by Joseph Mazzinghi, in which a man is looking for his friend Flora and the shepherds interviewed telling you that they have a wreath with " carnation, Lily, lily, Rose " bears.
At the exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1887 the image of both praise and criticism provoked. The President of the Royal Academy, Frederic Leighton, pursued the purchase of the image with vigor.