Essay and picture about two-thirds down page.

(Two studies)

(Essays Wet-canvas)
(Caricature of Sargent's painting)

He starts the year in Paris. He is commissioned by his landlord and friend and patron, Paul Poison, to paint a portrait of his daughter, Suzanna and another of his wife in lieu of rent. He paints a double portrait of Charlotte Louise Burchardt and her mother.

In March he probably visits his family in Nice.

In May he exhibits The Misses Vickers (1884) and Mrs. Albert Vickers (1884) at the Salon and Lady Playfair at the Royal Academy, Mrs. Alice Mason at the Grosvenor, London.

He exhibits with Monet and other Impressionists at the Galerie Georges-Petit, Paris: Exposition internationale de peinture. Three portraits along with Le verre de Porto are shown -- he gets little notice.

June: Takes Vernon Lee to the Salon and to the Louvre (24th/25th). 

Decides to move to London and takes a lease at 13 (later 33) Tite street, Chelsea, Whistler's old studio.Beyond Henry James and other American artists living in England he knows few people.

He and Edwin Austin Abbey in August takes a boating trip  on the Thames River where he gets the idea for Carnation, Lilly, Lilly, Rose.  On the trip he injures his head in a diving accident and then gashes it open again. Abbey talks him into convalescing at Broadway, between Worcestershire and London with a group of his art friends. Other artists in this little Broadway colony include Abbey, Francis Davis Millet, Edwin Blashfield, Alfred Parsons, Frederick Barnard, Edmund Gosse, and Henry James. 
See Footnote 1

At this point Sargent is still despondent over the Madame X scandal. He has been painting mostly friends since then, new commissions have been few and was not received well at the Impressionist show. He tells Edmund Gosse he's thinking of leaving painting.

At Broadway he paints his friends there such as  Mrs. Frederick Barnard, and begins Carnation, Lilly, Lilly, Rose. Home Fields is probably at Broadway.

In October he travels from Broadway to Bournemouth to paint a portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson.

By November he returns to London but tours southern England with Abbey and is back at Broadway and Frank Millet's Farnham House for Christmas.  

January, he's in London and paints in his studios in Kensington and lives at Bailey's Hotel. During this time he paints Mrs. Robert Harrison.

When spring comes, Sargent shows Mrs. Albert Vickers (1884), The Misses Vickers (1884) and Robert Harrison (n/a) at the Royal Academy, London. At the Grosvenor Gallery, London, he shows a portrait study; at the Society of American Artists, New York, he shows Mrs. Wilton Phipps (n/a) and Mrs. John W. Field (n/a); and at the Paris Salon he shows Charlotte Louise and Mrs. Burckhardt (1885).

He decides not to exhibit again with the Impressionists at the Galeri Geoges-Petit, Paris.

By March he decides where he's going to make his professional fight and digs in his heels. He decides London will be permanent home base, gives up his Paris boulevard Berthier studio to Giovannie Boldini, and helps found the New English Art Club, in London where he's elected to the selection committee. 

On June 26th he arrives at Broadway and stays with Abbey and the Millets at their new home: Russell House. While there he paints scenes and studies from the surrounding area including Millet's Garden, Poppies, Roses, and possibly In the Orchard and probably Edmund Gosse.

July, he is off to Paris briefly then on to Gossensass, Switzerland with his family.

In August he's in Bayreuth for the Wagner festival.

By autumn he's back in England and spends time between Broadway and London where he executes portrait commissions. Mrs. Cecil Wade is one of John's first major commissioned paintings since the Madame X showing and he finishes Carnation, Lilly, Lilly, Rose.

On October 28th, Henry James introduces Sargent to Isabella Stewart Gardner. She is an eccentric art collector from Boston, who fell in love his painting  El Jaleo  (1882) and had it hanging in her home in Boston. Their association would prove to be beneficial as she would later introduce him to countless clients in America. They would eventually become very good friends.