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PAG2-ricketts-muse-jpg

The halftone engraving reproduces Rickett’s pen and ink drawing. An allegorical depiction of autumn, it portrays a woman sleeping after playing her lute, while a small child plays near her. The woman appears in the left side of the image, sitting upright on a wooden bench, and the child appears on the right, a connecting bench. Her body is in three-quarter profile. She is nude from the abdomen up, with a cloth robe draped over her lap and legs. Her left arm is down at her side, with her hand holding a lute that rests on her lap. Her right foot is visible from under her robes. Her right arm is resting under her head on the back of her chair, holding flowers in her fingers. Her face is turned towards the viewer as she rests her head and sleeps. Her eyes are closed. Her hair is loose and hangs down her back, framed by the plant life that growing along the back of the bench. To the right of the woman is the blade of a scythe plunged into the ground beside her feet amidst a tangle of long grass. A large tangle of grape vines bearing berries and foliage grows up along a wall at the right side of the image, behind the wooden bench. The small nude male child or cherub sits on top of the bench, reaching up to the fruit on the branches with both of its small hands. Its right arm reaches up over its head to grip a bunch of berries. Its face looks upward past the berries towards the sky. Its hair is short, but wild, and blows backwards for his forehead. Behind its head is the corner of a building that appears to be made of brick at the corner. The rest of the building’s details are intentionally presented as unclear. Behind the bench, a wooden building with a gabled roof is visible in the distance. The artist’s monogram, CR, appears on the wooden bench beneath the sleeping woman.