The portrait depicts Janina Zakrzewska, née Dygat (1873, Paris – 1941, Królewska Góra near Warsaw), a teacher, translator and social activist. She was the daughter of Ludwik Dygat (1839–1901), a Polish émigré in France and deputy director of the Northern Railway Company in Paris, and Maria née Mazurkiewicz (1848–1875). After her father’s death, she lived with her stepmother, Konstancja Dygatowa, who ran a boarding house in Paris. She was educated in Paris, where she obtained a teaching diploma from the Paris Academy. She played an active role in the life of the Polish community in the French capital, where she met, amongst others, Olga Boznańska. In 1905, she married the doctor and social activist Dr Ksawery Zakrzewski, with whom she moved to Poznań that same year. There, she was involved in community work and taught French; she also worked as a translator. Two portraits of Janina Dygatovna painted by Boznańska are known to exist. In addition to the one in the Musée d’Orsay collection, there is another portrait from around the same period, now in a private collection.

In 1904, Olga Boznańska took part in the annual Paris Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The society did not award prizes; instead, admission of an artist as a member served as a mark of recognition. This was indeed the case with Boznańska, who was admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts on 11 May 1904 and was not only one of the few foreign women among the artists but also the only woman admitted at that time. At the exhibition, she presented five works, one of which – ‘Portrait of a Young Lady’ (‘Portrait de jeune dame’) – is today identified as a portrait of Janina Dygat. The work was commended by the committee and purchased by the French government.

The artist had been striving for this purchase. As early as two years earlier (28 April 1902), her father, Adam Boznański – who was concerned about his daughter’s finances and career – wrote to her in one of his letters: “I am urging you to make every effort to ensure that your paintings are included on the list for purchase; otherwise, all your hard work will be in vain. This can only be achieved through Messrs Sainsère and Bénédite. These gentlemen have great influence over the purchasing committee! Ask them personally; you must try very hard, and I know you will – this is a matter of money: to stay in Paris or not.”

Olivier Sainsère (1852–1923), mentioned in the letter, was an important figure in Olga Boznańska’s life. He belonged to the circle of prominent figures in Paris’s cultural world. Together with Léon Bénédit, the chief curator of the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris, he had a significant say in the acquisition of works for French state galleries; he was also a collector and art connoisseur, promoting avant-garde artists, including Picasso and the Fauvists. His own collection included works by, amongst others, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Édouard Vuillard and Henri Matisse. Olga Boznańska and her sister were frequent guests at the Sainsèrs’ home, and in 1899 she painted their portraits; around 1910, she painted a striking portrait of their daughter with her family (‘Portrait of Mr and Mrs Richet with their daughter Jacqueline’, private collection, France). Sainsèr followed Olga Boznańska’s work, held her in high regard and advised her on the selection of paintings for subsequent exhibitions. He may therefore have played a part in securing her works for the French collection.

The purchase of Miss Dygat’s portrait was also reported in the Kraków-based newspaper *Czas*, as Boznańska was informed in a letter from her friend Franciszek Mączyński, who also described the reaction of some of her compatriots to her success: ‘Złoty, today’s *Czas* carries a report on the purchase of a painting for Luxembourg. I learnt this from Takies [?] at the station – “Well, I knew Ms Boznańska – and… I liked her in Munich – I used to visit her – and… she was at her best back then, but later… ’ So I pointed out that there are some extremely interesting things in Paris that you haven’t seen – ‘Ah… sir, can she draw?’ – ‘What do you mean by that word?’ It turns out that this was supposed to mean painting ‘grand masterpieces’; for this gentleman, ‘that’ alone is a gift and a talent – obviously, a portrait is something one does ‘for a bit of fun’. Take Titian, for example, ‘because I know Italy perfectly well, sir’. Naturally, I brought the conversation to an end. [...] Good heavens, and yet here we are still so far away that it’s despairing – the hope lies in the fact that the young feel a kinship with you, they admire you just as you are, even without ‘grand machins’.”

In another letter, Mączyński reported on a discussion taking place in the *Kurier Warszawski*: “whether Olga Boznańska’s painting in Luxembourg is the first Polish work to be accepted there or not”.

Acquired by the French state at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 1904, added to the collection of the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris, 1905, and in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay since 1981 (inv. no. RF 1980 72).

Technical details: oil on cardboard, 82 × 60 cm.