Portrait of Mrs. Cubley as Terpsichore, half-length, in a white dress and a blue wrap, playing a lyre

This 1777 portrait of Mrs. Cubley as Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance, depicts the sitter playing a lyre in classical guise. Such mythological portraits were a specialty of Kauffmann's London practice, combining fashionable portraiture with classical learning. Kauffmann's refined oil handling favored cool, clear colors and gracefully elongated figures that drew on classical sculpture and Raphael's serene compositions, executed with a smooth, controlled touch that avoided all painterly roughness.

The allegorical portrait demonstrates Kauffmann's ability to integrate portrait likeness with classical costume and attributes, creating an elegant image of cultured femininity.