PHOTOGRAPH OF EDGAR DEGAS’S “WOMAN HAVING HER HAIR COMBED” COURTESY METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

“Savage beauty”

“Intending a contrary effect”

“Too raw”

“As much like a flower as anything you like”

“Described as white”

“Intended for private devotion”

“Probably French”

“Translucent”

“Has a hollow body”

“Free from fault and shining with purity”

“Highly fugitive”

“Undecipherable”

“Nutcracker (?)”

“By now fully domesticated”

“Female Pharaoh”

“Arguably the most important woman ever”

“Dated”

“Sufficiently prosperous”

“Extremely satisfying to look at”

“Feared by sailors and farmers alike”

“Youthful”

“Adopted persona”

“Densely packed into an earthenware vase”

“An international beauty”

“Complex linear skeleton”

“A fresh-complexioned, fair-headed young man”

“Positivistic”

“Viciously attacked”

“A moon-filled, fragranceless blossom in a cup of tea”

“Unrivaled for its scale and ambition”

“Amplified by the presence of two stooped peasants in a corner”

“Lizard-like”

“Remains unresolved”

“Excluded deliberately for reasons unknown”