Summertime

This appears to be a young woman, with a languid demeanor on a summer’s day. She seems to be melting in the heat and about to collapse. Notice her opaque and distant expression, and how her hair, especially on her right side, rests heavily on her shoulder and back. Notice also, that her blouse has dropped from her right shoulder emphasizing her overall nonchalant mood. In the1860s these might not have been entirely proper things for a young woman, in the presence of a man, to allow to happen out-of-doors—even on a hot summer’s day.