[title not known] Verso: Sketch 

Curator: This is an undated sketch by Elizabeth Rigby, part of the Tate Collections. Editor: She looks like a ghost, a whisper. The grey tones and unfinished quality lend her an air of melancholy. Curator: Notice the Regency-era dress and the suggestion of lace at her sleeves, details anchoring her within a specific cultural and historical moment. Editor: The unfinished hand bothers me, though. It’s like she’s reaching, but what does she want? Or is she being kept from something? Curator: Perhaps it's a symbol of aspiration versus the constraints placed upon women of that period. Rigby later became Lady Eastlake, known as an art critic, so this could represent her budding ambition. Editor: Maybe. Or maybe it was just a sketch she never quite got around to finishing. Either way, it’s haunting. Curator: Yes, those lingering questions give the piece a lasting resonance.