Sun and Moon Flowers
By G.D. Leslie


Sun and Moon Flowers
By George Dunlop Leslie, R.A. (1835-1921)
In the Guildhall Art Gallery, London

Not the least of Mr. Leslie's achievements was that of rising above the disability of being his father's son. From his parent, Charles Leslie, R.A., he inherited his talent for art, as well as his love of flowers. The father obtained his ideas from literary masterpieces. He was an interpreter of the ideas of others. Traces of his influence are naturally enough, to be found in the work of his son, in the grace and refinement, as well as in the delicate colour effects which he achieved so well. His pictures are marked by a romantic touch which appeals to the senses like a poem or a melody. They are soft, and sunny, and peaceful, like an English landscape in the summer time. Especially was he successful in interpreting innocent feminine beauty as he did it in "Sun and Moon Flowers."

This picture was painted in 1890, from one of the windows of the artist's drawing-room at Wallingford, looking out over the garden to the meadow on the opposite bank of the river. "I arranged the two girls," he said, "by the window. One is seated on a stool on the ground, and the other is on the seat of the deeply recessed window. The whole was painted direct from nature." A young lady friend posed for one of the figures, while "the other is from Kitty Lambert, a favourite model of mine. The two girls are arranging sunflowers in a vase. In the picture some of the sunflowers are the usual bright yellow ones, and others, which I call moonflowers, are far paler. It is painted on canvas, very simply, and when I last saw it was in a perfectly sound condition."

The picture forms a most agreeable colour scheme, and is redolent of summer and its fragrance.

From the book "Famous Paintings" printed in 1913.

Large files of this public domain print are available at Stock Photos at Songs of Praise
(Firefox users must click again on the large photo to see the very large image.)




Online "Name the Painting"









The Town and Country Mouse
painting by Leslie

Page Comments

Most Recent Comments ( See more comments on this page )
2010-06-15
I loved this page as I love the Artist; I have an 18 by 24 framed painting of 2 women feeding geese that I love and had not known much about the Artist
Irma
Leave a Comment View all Comments



Famous Paintings in this Series




M. Bompard

A Prayer to the Madonna


Botticelli

The Madonna and Child


Sir Edward Coley
Burne-Jones

King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid


Sir Edward Coley
Burne-Jones

The Mill


Jean Charles Cazin

Ishmael


John Constable

Boat-Building Near
Flatford Mill


John Crome

On the Skirts of the Forest


Pascal Adolphe Jean
Dagnan-Bouveret

The Blessed Bread


Theophile Emanuel Duverger

Alone


C.W. Furse

Diana of the Uplands


W.H. Gore

"'Listed"


Peter Graham

A Rainy Day


Jean Baptiste Greuze

The Listening Girl


Sir James Guthrie

A Highland Funeral


Frans Hals

A Man With a Glove
In His Hand


Hans Holbein the Younger

The Ambassadors


Henry Holiday

Dante and Beatrice


Sir Edwin Landseer

Suspense


Sir Edwin Landseer

A Naughty Child


H.H. La Thangue

Mowing Bracken


Sir Thomas Lawrence

Caroline of Brunswick,
Queen of George IV.

G.D. Leslie

Sun and Moon Flowers


J. Seymour Lucas

Flirtation


Jean Louis Ernest
Meissonier

The Print Collector


Jean Francois Millet

The Angelus


Jean Francois Millet

Going to Work


Sir William Quiller
Orchardson

The Farmer's Daughter


Ralph Peacock

Ethel


Rembrandt

His Own Portrait


Sir Joshua Reynolds

The Infant Samuel


Sir Joshua Reynolds

The Strawberry Girl


George Romney

The Parson's Daughter


W. Dendy Sadler

A Good Story


W. Dendy Sadler

Friday


William Small

The Last Match


J.M. Swan

On the Alert,
Lioness and Cubs


J.M.W. Turner

Peace: Burial at Sea of the
Body of Sir David Wilkie


J.M.W. Turner

Rain Steam and Speed
The Great Western Railway


Velazquez

Portrait of a Spanish Lady
"La Femme a L'Eventail"


Frederick Walker

The Vagrants


George Frederick Watts

Hope


James McNeill Whistler

My Mother


Anders Zorn

A Fisherman


Index Page
Famous Paintings