Paul Thumann (1834-1908), a painter of genre portraits, historical and mythological subjects, attended the Academy in Berlin in 1853, and continued his studies at Dresden and Weimar. In 1866 he was awarded a professorship at the Weimar School of Art and 1880 became a member of the Berlin Academy. He visited the USA in 1893, and sold the rights to his painting, Psyche at Nature's Mirror, to the White Rock mineral water company, which was adapted and used in their advertising.

This study depicts the head and shoulders of a young woman against a black background. The artist has bedecked the female figure in an amalgamation of national costume from his native Germany and the Italianate medievalised fashions popularised by the Aesthetic Dress Movement. The subject gazes directly at the viewer, her head and body tilted slightly to the right.