A young woman seated on a marble garden bench reading from a book in her lap which has a blue cover, metal clasps and an illuminated first letter. She is wearing a white silken dress, medieval in style, but with gauzy, classically-draped loose sleeves. A dusky silken mantle is behind her on the bench. Her pale brown wavy hair is centrally parted and neatly dressed behind her head. She rests her right elbow in her left hand and holds a sprig of blossom up to her neck as she reads. An orange is placed beside her on the bench to the left, plucked from the fruit and blossom laden tree that fills the picture space behind the bench. The gilt frame has an elaborate daisy and leaf moulding and a small inner border of moulded acanthus.