Radiant light shines down upon the face of a young woman, also illuminating an arrangement of dewy flowers and the pages of an open book prominently displayed on the table. Thomas Sully implies that education offers his sitter a rosy future. We cannot identify the young girl, but this canvas relates to another slightly smaller but equally idealized work, painted in 1846 and entitled Contemplation – The Poetess (Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson).