Two Girls on a Lawn

John Singer Sargent

ca. 1889 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

Sargent probably painted Two Girls on a Lawn at Fladbury Rectory, an old house he rented in Worcestershire, in the English countryside. His sister Violet is shown at left, wearing a black mourning dress as her father, Dr. FitzWilliam Sargent, had recently died. The woman in white is a family friend about whom little in known. In this work, Sargent was less concerned with capturing individual likenesses than with creating a daring two-dimensional pattern in black and white, against the broadly painted grassy background.

Artist

John Singer Sargent

Date

ca. 1889

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond, 1950