Artwork of the week: Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose
31.07.2012
Regarded as one of the leading portrait painters of his generation, John Singer Sargent was born of American parents in Florence in 1856. Strongly influenced by artists such as Carolus-Duran, Léon Bonnat and Diego Velázquez, Sargent achieved international fame in the late 1890s becoming one of the most sought-after portraitists of his time. A prolific artist, his work was characterized by remarkable technical facility and a style at times reminiscent of the French Impressionism. Sargent lived most of his life in Europe, settling first in Paris and then in London; he died in 1925.
Among his numerous masterpieces, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose is undoubtedly one of Sargent’s most popular paintings. Inspired by the Chinese lanterns hanging among trees and lilies he saw during a boating expedition on the Thames at Pangbourne in September 1885, Sargent began the painting shortly after moving to Britain from France. The picture depicts Polly – on the right – and Dorothy Barnard – on the left – the daughters of the illustrator and friend Frederick Barnard, surrounded by flowers and lanterns in the home garden of the painter F.D. Millet at Broadway.
One of the few figure compositions he ever made en plein air in the Impressionist manner, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose was indeed not easy to paint: in order to capture the mauvish light of dusk, Sargent was in fact able to work exclusively for a few minutes during the evening. The arrival of autumn also forced the painter to replace the blossoms with artificial flowers. The title of the painting comes from the refrain of a song – The Wreath – composed in the 1880s by Joseph Mazzinghi.
Equally acclaimed and decried by his contemporaries, Sargent’s Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose is on display at Tate Britain.
