this is an audio description of carnation Lily Lily Rose by john singer
sargent the painting hangs in tate britain in
the 1840s room the title of this painting comes from the song the wreath
by the 18th century composer of operas Josef Matt cingi which was popular in
the 1880s sergeant and his friends frequently sang around the piano at
Broadway the house where this was painted the song asked the question have
you seen my flora passed this way to which the answer is carnation Lily Lily
Rose the painting is almost square though it originally extended for two
more feet to the left Sargent cut this section off to
centralize the composition its dimensions are 1 meter 74 by 1 meter 54
so its height is about the size of an average adult it is a life-size painting
of two young girls in a garden lighting chinese paper lanterns in the twilight
the two girls are polly and dolly bernard daughters of a friend chosen
because they had the exact hair colour sergeant was seeking dolly age 11 is on
the left Polly age 7 is on the right both girls
wear white summer dresses with frilly necks like cotton nighties which cover
them completely from their necks down to below the knee the dress is a very full
and billowy and have full-length puffy sleeves the white fabric picks up and
reflects the orange colored light of the paper lanterns that surround them
suspended from a horizontal line which is strung and wound between tall Lily
stems the two girls stand almost knee-deep in the carnations which grow
upwards and diagonally from the ground wearing black boots they have light
brown hair cut short above their necks dolly in the centre of the canvas is
positioned with her back slightly turned towards us so we see her face in profile
she's holding a paper lantern in her left hand and is lighting it using a
long taper with her right hand her face is glowing with the upward
pointing light coming from the lantern which glows a wonderful orange
Polly the younger girl on the right hand side of the composition also lights a
lantern in the same way that hers is not quite so bright yet she's turned towards
us so we see her face in full again lit up from below by the
candle light of the lantern she's lighting both girls have expressions of
concentration on their faces as they carefully light the lanterns the sisters
are surrounded by flowers deep burgundy in cream carnations on Bluegreen stems
in the lower quarter of the composition pink and white roses to either side of
them and tall creamy white lilies all around and above them there are eight
more globe and tube shaped paper lanterns hanging from the line strung
between the branchton stems around the girls each one glowing orange e pink and
looking remarkable against the darker color of the leaves and stems which
surround them occasionally a lily flower or a few leaves fall just in front of a
lantern which creates a backlit shape contrasting the deep green leaves with
the bright orange pink and white lanterns the green foliage gradually
changes in color from top to bottom influenced heavily by the rapidly
changing light conditions of the moment of nightfall the leaves and stems at the
top of the picture a bright green and those at the bottom of the composition
are more of a Bluegreen color the inspiration for this picture came
during a boating expedition sergeant took on the Thames in September 1885
with the American artist Edward Austin Abbey during which he saw Chinese
lanterns hanging among trees and lilies on the riverbank he worked on the
picture from September to early November 1885 returning to it during the summer
of 1886 finally completing it in October Sargent was able to work for only a few
minutes each evening when the light was exactly right he would place his easel
and paints out beforehand and pose Pali and Dali in anticipation of the few
moments when he could paint the mova Sh light of dusk as autumn came and the
flowers died he replaced the blossoms with artificial flowers a friend
described his painting technique he took up his place at a distance from the
canvas and at a certain notation of the light ran forward over the lawn with the
action of a wagtail planting at the same time rapid dabs of paint on the picture
and then retiring only with equal suddenness to repeat the
wagtail action all of this occupied but two or three minutes the light rapidly
declining and then when he left the young ladies to remove his machinery
sergeant would join his friends again so long as the Twilight permitted in the
last turn at lawn tennis the next day he would scrape off most of the previous
evenings work and start again