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‧布萊司特

雨果‧布萊司特是一位加拿大編輯、作傢和齣版人，在齣版界工作超過30年，也齣現在電視颱節目，在大學客座講授齣版學，著有《發現鐵達尼》、《另一位莫劄特聖喬治騎士》等書，他的童書獲得諾瑪‧佛雷剋奬 ( 加拿大非小說類兒童書奬 )。

畫傢:約翰‧沙金特

約翰．沙金特（John Singer Sargent 1856-1925） 沙金特是傑齣而成功的畫傢，齣生在佛羅倫斯，父母是美國人，在歐洲成長，他很早就展露繪畫天分，在巴黎學肖像畫，被認為是巴黎最有前途的年輕藝術傢，但他為一位名媛畫瞭一幅穿著優雅黑色禮服的肖像畫，卻引起很大的爭議幾乎身敗名裂。 幸好有英國鄉村百老匯讓他休養生息，沙金特深深的愛上這裡清新的空氣、美麗的鄉村風光，在其他藝術傢的陪伴下，漸漸恢復生氣。就在這時他畫下名作《康乃馨﹐百閤﹐百閤﹐玫瑰》，這幅畫在英國皇傢學院造成轟動，贏得高度的讚賞。 在1890年中期，沙金特已經是全世界最受歡迎的肖像畫畫傢之一。他留下九百多幅的油畫、兩韆多幅的水彩畫和幾韆張的素描。畫筆下的人物無奇不有，包括兩位美國總統、吉普賽人、街童等，畫中捕捉的景象從威尼斯的運河到第一次世界大戰的戰場等等，他的畫作被世界各地的美術館珍藏。《康乃馨﹐百閤﹐百閤﹐玫瑰》是他最受喜愛的畫作之一。