Full length figure of Sappho, a bare-breasted woman standing on a rocky promontory against an iron grey sky and dark sea. She leans her left arm at shoulder height on the rock and gazes down and to the right. Her dark eyes have shadows beneath them. Her dark wavy hair falls to her shoulders beneath the black gauzy drapery which covers her head, the lower half of her body from waist to ankles, and her left upper arm. Her feet are bare. She wears gold hoop earrings, a gold bangle, and there is a gold tie or belt around her waist. Her right arm hangs to her side, and in her right hand she holds a lyre, which has a painted border on its wooden frame, visible on the edge that faces the viewer. Two grey birds fly in the sky behind.