Summer

In 1949 the present owner's parents bought Holmehurst, a large Victorian house in Loughton which was in a state of dereliction having been requisitioned during the Second World War. As keen gardeners they set about restoring the sixteen acre plot and completed the project in 1959. Kennedy, who was a neighbour in nearby Woodford Green, offered to paint the family a picture in honour of the restoration. He visited every day or so over the month of June to pick another flower from the garden, only providing the yellow canary bird rose from his own garden.
Kennedy regarding this flowerpiece as one of his finest paintings and asked the family if he could exhibit it at the Paris Salon the following year in 1960.