A young girl is shown rescuing the head of the Thracian musician Orpheus in Moreau's oil painting. She is holding an elaborate lyre with the head of Orpheus on it, gazing at it with melancholy. The landscape is given a mystical and fantastical character by the painting's background. On the rocks, there are three people, one of whom is playing a shepherd's flute. Τwo turtles on the lower right possibly allude to how the first lyre was made.