It depicts a young black woman, sitting in a gilt armchair mostly covered with a blue cloth, in front of a plain light background.

The composition has similarities to Benoist's 1802 portrait of Madame Philippe Panon Desbassayns de Richemont and her son Eugène, now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Its enigmatic presentation and apparent internal contradictions have prompted much speculation about the artist's motivation and intentions, with recent interpretations focussing on ideas of slavery, race, gender, class, and their interactions.

Most paintings of the period that include black women show them as servants to a white woman; while Madeline sits alone, she is working as a model to the unseen Benoist.

The bared breast would be unusual for a portrait painting, and suggests an allegory or mythological subject, or possibly alludes to the slave trade.