In this painting, a woman drifts off into thought, a book held loosely in hand. A harmonious, subtle palette and the sitter’s elegant calm set a contemplative mood. Dewing avoids the limiting structure of narrative depiction and offers little context or explanation. Yet while the nondescript setting and model’s breezy styling lend a timeless effect, Dewing’s quotation of Renaissance portrait conventions, layered with the classically styled figure seated in a Colonial Windsor chair, announces his full embrace of aestheticism’s modern, cosmopolitan outlook.
