Najade o Ninfa (Naiad or Nymph) by Giovanni Battista Lombardi, 1858
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“Lombardi’s beautiful Nymph merges classical simplicity with romantic sentiment. The young girl, with idealised features, is captured in the act of entering a stream of water, nude but for a drape, which she is seen removing from her thigh. Gazing at the water below, she displays her intricately carved pearl diadem centred by a shell, which indicates her mythological status. Feeling the cold water on her toes, the girl appears to hesitate, hovering her left hand in front of her body, in an imitation of the pudica gesture seen in Roman Venuses. The harmony of the composition allows for a full appreciation in the round; the girl’s wavy tresses and graceful forms creating a supremely elegant rear view.”