Sapiens Verbum

Blindfolded soldiers form a human chain, each hand on the man ahead, moving through mustard-gas aftermath like a procession that has forgotten how to see. John Singer Sargent's Gassed (1919) is enormous and quiet at once - a society portraitist's eye turned on World War I's chemical wound, where the sky is still strangely luminous and the ground is full of bodies waiting. Quick facts Artist: John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) Date: 1919 Medium: Oil on canvas Collection: Imperial War Museum, London Notable fact: Commissioned as a war memorial painting; depicts mustard-gas blinded troops after a Western Front attack John Singer Sargent, Gassed , 1919. Imperial War Museum, London. From Glamour to Triage Sargent had made a career of silk, marble, and brilliant faces. The British War Memorials Committee sent him toward something else. Gassed keeps his clarity of grouping and light, then spends it on men whose eyes are wrapped and whose path is a rope of trust. Bea...

Twilight in an English garden, and two girls light paper lanterns among carnations, lilies, and roses. The flowers give the painting its singsong title; the hour gives it its spell. John Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-1886) is less a portrait sitting than a chase after one fragile colour of dusk - warm lantern glow against cool leaves, childhood held in the few minutes before night wins. Quick facts Artist: John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) Date: 1885-1886 Medium: Oil on canvas Collection: Tate Britain, London Notable fact: Painted at Broadway, Worcestershire, with Dolly and Polly Barnard as models; sensation at the Royal Academy in 1887 John Singer Sargent, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose , 1885-1886. Tate Britain, London. Chasing the Exact Minute Sargent worked outdoors at his friends' garden in Broadway, returning each evening for the same brief light. Chinese lanterns found on site became props; the Barnard sisters became the calm centre. The ...