KEITH CHRISTIANSEN: Camille Corot is best known as a landscape painter, but in this painting of about 1870, he reveals his commitment to figure painting. Research Curator Asher Miller:

ASHER MILLER: This painting is unfinished. It's a painting in process. Corot originally depicted this woman playing a cello with attributes of music. Corot repeatedly adjusted the contour of the cello and the position of the bow before painting them out entirely, dropping the right hand into the model's lap and inserting a rose in her left hand. The ivy in her hair may symbolize the immortality of the arts.

KEITH CHRISTIANSEN: In Corot’s original conception, the figure would have personified Polyhymnia, the cello-playing muse of music. Over time, however, it became known simply as “The Italian Woman.” Corot’s model was Agostina, known as “the Italian of Montparnasse,” the Paris neighborhood where Corot had his studio.

ASHER MILLER: One of the most striking features of the painting in its present state is the rough, summary brushwork of the models' hands and arms, passages that Corot struggled with, and her clearly described head. He retained the swanlike arch of her back, neck and head, which indicates the artist's attempt to emulate the famously elegant draftsmanship of the Renaissance master Raphael.