A French Garden, Provence

In A French Garden, Provence, a young woman stands outside a thatch-roofed whitewashed house. The light comes from the left at a low-raking angle, indicating an early hour in the day, as does the young woman's appearance, with no parasol or hat to protect her from the sun. At her feet a stony path adds a graceful curve to the composition, winding around a flower bed and spilling into the left foreground edge of the composition; this device would become a signature of Picknell's work. The woman has turned away from the sun, the light hitting only the back of her neck; her face is in shadow. The glancing light throws the flowers into high relief. Hollyhocks taller than the young woman stand near the house. The sky visible over the rooftop is a brilliant violet blue with only the slightest tinge of white. The art- historian William Gerdts has singled out Picknell's extraordinary ability to capture the effects of strong sunlight on surfaces; Gerdts coined the term "glare aesthetic" to describe this interest in "the effects of intense daylight, portrayed in strong tonal contrast, often achieving the powerful effect of glare from reflective surfaces. . . . They are mirrors from which dazzling sunlight is reflected . . . toward the spectator and upon which strong silhouettes of still clearly rendered forms may be cast, allowing for the intensification of color and light without dissolution of form."