Two little girls aged seven and eleven are lighting Chinese paper lanterns in a garden full of carnations, lilies and roses at dusk. Sargent reveals this abundant scene to us from a vantage point just above the garden. Immediately we are caught up in the mood of childlike enchantment which comes from the ever changing mysteries of mauve twilight in a luxuriant garden.However, the idea of the subject of this painting evolved in less tranquil circumstances. Sargent and Edwin Abbey, another painter, took a boat trip on the River Thames setting out at Oxford for Windsor. Near Pangbourne, whilst bathing, Sargent dived from a weir and cut his head open very severely on a concealed spike. The accident was so serious that he had to extend his stay and during this time he saw the effect of Chinese lanterns hung among trees and beds of lilies.