The painting depicts two small children dressed in white who are lighting paper lanterns as day turns to evening; they are in a garden strewn with pink roses, accents of yellow carnations and tall white lilies (possibly the Japanese mountain lily, Lilium auratum) behind them. The painting is dominated by green foliage, with no horizon or other horizontal line to give a sense of depth. The viewer seems to be on a level with the children but also looking down on them. The two subjects of the painting are the daughters of the illustrator Frederick Barnard – a friend of Sargent’s. Dolly, left, was 11 years old and Polly, right, seven years old; they were chosen for their blonde hair, replacing Sargent’s original model, Francis Davis Millet’s five-year-old daughter, dark-haired Katherine. The title comes from the refrain of a popular song “Ye Shepherds Tell Me” by Joseph Mazzinghi, a pastoral glee for a trio of male voices, which mentions Flora wearing “A wreath around her head, around her head she wore, Carnation, lily, lily, rose”.