Sara, belle d'indolence. 1879. Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper; 17¼ x 26¼ inches (44 x 66.5 cm). Private collection. Click on image to enlarge it.
This watercolour of Sara, belle d'indolence [Sara, beauty of indolence] was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1879, no. 832. The subject is taken from Victor Hugo’s poem of the same name, also referred to as “Sara la Baigneuse” [Zara, the Bather] from Les Orientales, his book of poems published in 1829. The poems in this volume were all loosely focused on the theme of liberty and were inspired by the Greek War of Independence.
The first verse of Hugo’s poem reads:
Sara, belle d'indolence,
Se balance
Dans un hamac, au-dessus
Du bassin d'une fontaine
Toute pleine
D'eau puisée à l'Ilyssus
[Sara, beauty of indolence
In a swinging hammock lying,
Lightly flying,
Zara, lovely indolent,
O'er a fountain's crystal wave
There to lave
Her young beauty – see her bent.]
Holiday’s watercolour shows Sara wearing a transparent gown stretched out prone and lying in a hammock. She is reclining over a reflecting pool echoing the lines of the poem “Dans le transparent miroir [O'er the mirror to and fro]. Despite being inspired by Hugo’s poem, Holiday has quite obviously been “allegorizing on one’s own hook” when one compares the picture to the poem itself. The painting is an exercise in pure Aestheticism, similar to Holiday’s earlier Music of 1876. The poem Sara also inspired works from other artists, including the French painter and printmaker Henri Fantin-Latour.
Last modified 16 January 2023