Painted not with the artist's typical technique, but in a mannerist style, the subject faces the viewer yet is glancing away, her pose tense, with a bunch of discarded flowers on the ground next to the hem of her enormous formal dress.

"[10] Although portraying a young lady, the person chosen to sit was "a Parisian professional model and a prostitute, apparently with a reputation for being moody and cantankerous".

[10] The work reflects the scope of Rix Nicholas's abilities and ambitions, as she created a painting specifically with the intention of having it hung at the Paris Salon.

The quaint conventionality of this background accords exactly with the late eighteenth-century costume, all sprigged with roses and heliotrope; and the whole mass of detail harmonies [sic] perfectly with the type of the model's face.

The artist has brought out with revealing strokes an expression of vindictive malice which is for the moment resting there; and the hands, the fingers of one grasped tightly by the other, give a clear indication of nervous tension within.