Evening

William Blake

National Gallery of Art

This painting depicts a woman in a flowing dress. She faces us, with one arm extended downward and the other arm raised above her head. Her raised hand appears to hold the edge of a flowing cloth that drapes down behind her. A different cloth covers her head, and her facial features include thin, arched eyebrows, a straight nose, and small, slightly smiling lips. She wears a long gown with what looks like a crescent moon on her chest, and she is barefoot, with her toes visible below the edge of her dress. She holds a wand-like object in her hand, extended towards the bottom left corner. The wand appears to be topped with three flowers or buds. The background is plain beige paper, and the lines of the painting have been done in pale gray.