A woman stands with her back to us wearing a silver and black gown as she turns to look to our right in profile in this vertical portrait painting. We look slightly down onto the woman, and her features are painted with blended brushstrokes, making some details indistinct. She has pale, peachy skin, a straight nose, a strong chin, and her pink lips are closed. Black bangs brush the temple we can see, and her hair is pulled up into a bun high on the back of her head. Her black bodice has elbow-length, ruffled silver sleeves, which seem to be overlaid with translucent black material gathered in tiers. More gauzy black material covers her upper back to a high, black collar. A pearl-white bow at her lower back is nearly the width of her waist. The silver fabric of her long skirt drapes to and on the floor in a short train in deep folds. The woman’s right arm hangs by her side, and she holds what might be a piece of black fabric. A baseboard angles in a shallow diagonal down to our right across her hips. The wall above is smoky mauve-purple and below is charcoal gray. The shape of a butterfly within a darker oval is on the wall just to our right of the woman’s wrist.

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   Ethel Philip, Whistler's sister-in-law and a favorite subject of the artist, whose likeness appears in drawings, etchings, lithographs, and at least five full-size oil paintings, stands against an empty, shallow background with her back to the viewer. She wears a grey silk gown topped with a bolero jacket of transparent silk gauze or fine net—a design inspired by traditional costumes from Spain's Andalusian region. Ethel's head and shoulders are turned slightly to the right to reveal her profile. This graceful pose emphasizes her costume's long, sweeping cascade to the floor, drawing the viewer's attention not to the model's features but to her dramatic attire. One art historian concluded that "it is not a portrait of a person, but of a dress," transforming Ethel Philip into a fashion model or mannequin rather than the subject of a formal, full-length portrait.

   The work's title may also have sartorial origins—the result of Whistler's extended stay in Paris, a city renowned for its luxury fashion houses and couturiers. At that time, couture dresses were often given individual names to emphasize their uniqueness. It is possible that Whistler's title refers not to a Spanish woman, but to the model of the dress worn by Ethel.

   Whistler had demonstrated a strong interest in women's fashion and its role in his portraiture long before he painted The Andalusian. In the 1870s, apparently dissatisfied with British fashions at the time, the artist himself designed the elaborate dresses worn by the female subjects of Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander (Tate Gallery, London) and Symphony in Flesh Color and Pink: Portrait of Mrs. Frances Leyland (Frick Collection).

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