Philosophy in Summer, Lily Millet in a Hammock

This painting is signed and dated on the lower left, Millet 1878.  It is one of Millet’s most expensive paintings, sold for over $200,000 dollars.  It is Millet’s first painting of Lily, and she is laying in a hammock. The painting is often titled Lily in a Hammock, rather than it’s proper title, Philosophy in Summer.

According to documents in the hands of the family.   Lily and Frank were not yet married at this time, in fact, Frank and Paolo his Man-servant were “house guests” as a part of Sally  Merrill’s (Lily’s mother), American entourage, resident in Paris in 1878.  This sensitive painting was painted, en plein air in a garden outbuilding, in the Normandy region of France, and not in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts at all, as is commonly assumed. It’s not in Paris either as the party were spending the summer months in a beach-side residence “Chalet de la Plage” in a small village named Vasouy near Honfleur, Calvados in Normandy.  The following note, written by Frank, gives directions for finding the home near Honfleur:

As recorded in Millet letters and documents in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC. Following the conclusion of Millet’s assignments during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878,  Millet and his faithful Man-servant, Paolo, traveled to Paris where they stayed and set up a studio in the Merrill home in Rue de l’Orient, Monmartre. At this time Lily, the Merrill’s daughter, and Frank Millet were not yet even engaged.

Paolo was employed in the Merrill home as a general servant and cook for an extended period. Paolo even spent the summer of 1878 with the family in Vasouy, in Calvados, France, where Millet painted his soon-to-be wife, Lily Merrill, asleep in a hammock under a bower and entitled the painting, Philosophy in Summer.

Frank had returned to Paris from the Russo-Turkish War in mid-April and went to Paris as a Juror at the Paris Exposition Universelle on May 1st, before taking the seaside break.

The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1879.  The following description was made at the time of the exhibition:

“…a pleasing little picture of a young lady in a lavender-coloured dress, with jet-black hair reclining in a hammock…The lady (whose face, by-the-way, bears much resemblance to that of the artist’s lately-wedded wife) is a charming exemplification of serene contentment”.

In 1880 Frank exhibited the picture at the Boston Arts Club exhibition, and received this description & criticism:

“Philosophy in Summer was very much better, introducing the graceful episode of a lady sleeping in a hammock. This composition altogether was exceedingly agreeable, notwithstanding that the painter has failed to give a glow to his scene which it needed, by leaving the sunlight outside the summer-house, and rendering it in a dull yellow at that”.

This painting is a good example of how quickly the quality of Millet’s painting skill grew, following his study at the Royal Academy in Antwerp in 1871-72 and his subsequent travel/study and work in Europe.