"Who Is Sylvia? What Is She, That All the Swains Commend Her?"

Edwin Austin Abbey

National Gallery of Art

A young woman wearing a long gown strides toward us down carpeted stairs, in front of an entourage of several musicians and attendants in this square painting. The men and woman all have pale skin. The woman's dress has a long, cream-white skirt, and the white bodice is trimmed with gold and jewels. The vibrant ruby-red, puffy sleeves are gathered at the elbow and fit tightly over the forearms. She wears a red and gold headpiece over her bound, chestnut-brown hair. She has large brown eyes, a narrow nose, smooth skin, and her deep pink lips are closed. She looks slightly to our left and up. A white pouch with a cinched opening hangs from her waist. The pointed toe of one shoe peeks out under her skirt, which she lifts with both hands. Three men stand behind her in a line to our left, and another stands or walks behind her to our right. The man closest to us on the left is cut off by the edge of the painting. He wears a calf-length tunic with vertical bands alternating between cream-white and a gold-on-red pattern. He wears a wide-brimmed hat and holds a white ostrich-feather fan dangling from a string as he looks at the woman. The man behind him wears a floppy crimson-red hat and red costume with decorative slashes. He holds a tiny brown dog and a scroll to his chest, and he cuts his eyes toward the woman. Behind him, in the shadows, a bareheaded man plays a lute. A second lute player, to the right, wears a voluminous scarlet-red hood and robe and his lips seem parted as if singing. The rug beneath them is patterned with an angular design of red against forest green. A fluted, parchment-colored column encloses the scene to our right. The tall base of the column is elaborately carved with imgainary creatures. The fifth man, wearing black over a white shirt and white stockings, leans his elbow on the column base so his body faces our left in profile. He holds his hat in his right hand and clutches a book to his chest with the other. He has chin-length brown hair and mustache. He tips his head toward and looks at the woman.