Thetis, a Sea-nymph

A woman poses in an opera costume as the sea-nymph Thetis. She wears an ankle length silver dress with a long sea green cape and a sea green overskirt, with a fishscale pattern on it. The skirt is wide, suggesting the presence of panniers. She wears a head piece made of thin green leaves to suggest seaweed, small white flowers and pearls, and a pouf of white material in her hair.

She wears an ornate choker made of pearls with three tiers and small drop pendants. The neck of her white satin bodice is low and square, decorated with pearls, with a lace ruffle along the edge, and a scallop seashell-shaped decoration as a brooch. The sleeves are long with lines of pearls running in vertical stripes down the arm to the elbow. Pink ribbon bows encircle her elbow. The bottom half of her sleeves are adorned with rows of horizontal pearls. The sea green cape that she wears is pinned to her right shoulder and falls across her back to be pinned at her left hip.

A strand of pearls crosses the front of her bodice from each pin. The overskirt is drawn up in two places on the right side by pink double bows. The silver skirt underneath is detailed at the hem with a wide band of gold shells, seaweed, and garlands of flowers. She wears pink high heeled shoes with jeweled buckles, and white stockings. She points down with her left hand and holds an oval hand mirror, symbol of the mermaid, in her right.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges