Young Kate Millet is the model for the painting John Singer Sargent is working on in her parents' garden. Everyone says she is posing well, even though she finds it very hard to stand still. Then, one of her father's friends arrives with his two daughters. They're older, taller and have lighter hair than Kate. Sargent decides to use them as models instead. Kate is devastated.Based on numerous letters and recollections from the period, Hugh Brewster's story describes Kate's disappointment, the many difficulties experienced by the painter through the long artistic process, Kate's reconciliation with him and how she is immortalized on canvas after all. Illustrated with over 35 of Sargent's paintings and sketches, "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" recreates the 1880s milieu of the famed American painter during an extended trip to England, and the thoughts and days of a girl who was there alongside him.

作者：雨果‧布莱司特

雨果‧布莱司特是一位加拿大编辑、作家和出版人，在出版界工作超过30年，也出现在电视台节目，在大学客座讲授出版学，着有《发现铁达尼》、《另一位莫札特圣乔治骑士》等书，他的童书获得诺玛‧佛雷克奖 ( 加拿大非小说类儿童书奖 )。

画家:约翰‧沙金特

约翰．沙金特（John Singer Sargent 1856-1925） 沙金特是杰出而成功的画家，出生在佛罗伦斯，父母是美国人，在欧洲成长，他很早就展露绘画天分，在巴黎学肖像画，被认為是巴黎最有前途的年轻艺术家，但他為一位名媛画了一幅穿着优雅黑色礼服的肖像画，却引起很大的争议几乎身败名裂。 幸好有英国乡村百老匯让他休养生息，沙金特深深的爱上这裡清新的空气、美丽的乡村风光，在其他艺术家的陪伴下，渐渐恢復生气。就在这时他画下名作《康乃馨﹐百合﹐百合﹐玫瑰》，这幅画在英国皇家学院造成轰动，赢得高度的讚赏。 在1890年中期，沙金特已经是全世界最受欢迎的肖像画画家之一。他留下九百多幅的油画、两千多幅的水彩画和几千张的素描。画笔下的人物无奇不有，包括两位美国总统、吉普赛人、街童等，画中捕捉的景象从威尼斯的运河到第一次世界大战的战场等等，他的画作被世界各地的美术馆珍藏。《康乃馨﹐百合﹐百合﹐玫瑰》是他最受喜爱的画作之一。