A woman sits at a dressing-table bearing a mirror and candle; she looks towards the right with a startled or frightened expression. Behind, there is a bed from which emanate rays of light but perhaps suggestive of death. An early drawing, of the first half of the 1780's probably nearer to 1780 than to 1785 (cf. Butlin nos. 116 recto, 120 verso, 197a, repr. pp. 127, 144, 222). For other early drawings treating of death see Butlin's nos. 135-7, repr. pp. 152-5