two innocents: dog and girl, karl bryullov

thanks wikimedia commons {PD-old-100}

In a dense wood where the sunlight makes its way through as best it can, a delicate, intense girl stands.  She holds her dog, a creature equally delicate yet thorough in its regard.  Did she really need that heavy cape?  She has it balanced on a shoulder as if about to throw it back and run.  As though all she needed from then on was her dog and her own will.  This is a portrait of U. M. Smirnova painted sometime in the years 1837-1840 by Karl Bryullov, the Russian history and portrait painter.  I don't know any more about the enchanting and determined pair here, but I wish I did.