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In his 1909 retrospective catalogue of his own works, Rodin described this pair of works as a "face violently creased with sadness and torn by bitter tears and dishevelled hair". He merged her hair with the uneven surface representing her neck, which may suggest that the work was not intended to depict a figure from history of Ovid's Metamorphoses as Truman Bartlett supposed. It is different from Rodin's traditional style at that time and differs from his Mask of Pain, anticipating instead his Hanako series of 1907.
Rodin exhibited a new version of the work at Georges Petit's gallery, created for Edmond Lachenal in memory of a woman.
Edmond Lachenal Georges Petit Metamorphoses Ovid's Metamorphoses