This is a portrait of a young woman from the fishing village of Granville, in Normandy. Her dark hair may be tied back, but it is still ruffled by the sea breeze. Her head is tilted slightly to her right, consistent with her bag over her right shoulder. The background setting is of shoreline at low tide, with the sea just visible in the distance to the right, and a rocky shore and grasses to the left. Nothing is known of the sitter, except her name, Francine. The use of 'La' before her name was standard practice in rural France at that time, denoting familiarity. Granville, a small fishing port, became a fashionable seaside resort in the nineteenth century. Eugénie Salanson trained first in Calais and then since the Académie des Beaux-Arts did not accept women, at the Académie Julian, where she was taught by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.