Diary: J. Vanessa Lyon, All the Better to See You With

A woman faces left, her arms and lower body blocked from view by a stretch of parapet or possibly a table. She turns her head incrementally toward the picture plane, just enough to reveal the eye farthest from view. The woman’s face is long and her bare, prominent forehead with its receding hairline takes up nearly as much of her countenance as the rest of her features combined. Her chins are round and jowly. The brilliant, raking light pouring in from the upper left corner has blanched away the details of her scalloped shift or corset-like stomacher but one can easily make out the elaborate lace of her plumed head-covering in shadow.

The woman’s small eyes are peculiarly unfocused.