The Reading Girl (La Leggitrice)

Pietro Magni

National Gallery of Art

Carved from white marble, a young woman sits turned to face the back of a wooden chair, where she props the open book she reads in this free-standing sculpture. In this photograph, her knees face us but her body and head are turned slightly to our left, toward the ladderback of the chair, so we see her face almost in profile as she looks down at the book. Her long hair is loosely tied back at the nape of her neck. She has a straight nose and her lips are closed. A delicate tear falls from her left eye, closer to us. A loose, short-sleeved garment falls open over her right shoulder so her breast is exposed. A medallion with a portrait of a man hangs from a long string around her neck. She holds the book open with her right hand, farther away from us, and her other hand rests in her lap. The book lies on more fabric bunching over the back of the chair. Her bare feet, crossed at the ankle, peek out from under her long garment so one foot extends beyond the edge of the marble base on which the chair rests.