With bells on her tunic and feathers in her hair, a young woman holds aloft a lyre and pick to pluck it. Behind her appear dancers and musicians, for she is Terpsichore: the muse of dance. This canvas and its pendant, nearby, may once have belonged to a larger series portraying the nine muses: goddesses who preside over the arts in Classical mythology. The model for Terpsichore may have been a celebrated ballerina, but this picture is not a straightforward portrait. Scalloped edges reveal its original purpose as an architectural decoration, possibly installed over a door and surrounded by curved wood moldings.