The portrait shows Janina Zakrzewska, née Dygat (1873, Paris - 1941, Królewska Góra near Warsaw), teacher, translator and social activist. She was the daughter of Ludwik Dygat (1839-1901), a Polish émigré in France, deputy director at the Northern Railway Company in Paris, and Maria née Mazurkiewicz (1848-1875). After her father's death, she lived with her stepmother, Konstancja Dygatowa, owner of a boarding house in Paris. She received her education in Paris, where she graduated as a teacher from the Paris Academy. She actively participated in the life of the Polish colony in the French capital, meeting, among others, Olga Boznańska. In 1905, she married the physician and social activist Dr Ksawery Zakrzewski, with whom she left for Poznań the same year. There, she was socially active and taught French, and was also a translator. There are two well-known portraits of Janina Dygatówna painted by Boznańska. In addition to the one in the Musée d'Orsay collection, there is also an image from a similar time in a private collection today.

Olga Boznańska participated in the annual Parisian Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts in 1904. The association did not award prizes, and the proof of recognition was the artist's act of acceptance as a member. This is what happened to Boznanska, who was admitted to the Societe National des Beaux Arts on 11 May 1904 and was among the artists not only one of the few foreigners, but also the only one of the women admitted at the time. She presented five works at the exhibition, one of which, 'Portrait of a young lady' ('Portrait de jeune dame'), is today identified with the image of Janina Dygat. The work was honoured by the commission and purchased by the French government.

The artist had sought this purchase. Only two years earlier ( 28 April 1902), caring for his daughter's finances and career - the artist's father Adam Boznański wrote in one of his letters to her: "I hasten to make it imperative that you make sure that your paintings are taken on the list for purchase otherwise all your efforts will be on them. This can only come about through Messrs Sainsère and Bénédite. These gentlemen have great influence over the commission to purchase! Ask them personally for it, you must apply yourself strenuously, and I know you will do so, it is about money here - to be or not to be in Paris next."

The Olivier Sainsèr (1852-1923) mentioned in the letter is an important figure in Olga Boznanska's life. He was one of the important figures in the cultural world of Paris. Together with Leon Bénédit, chief curator of the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, he had an important voice in the purchase of works for the French state galleries; he was also a collector and art expert, and promoted avant-garde artists, including Picasso and the Fauvists. His own collections included works by Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, Édouard Vuillard and Henri Matisse, among others. Olga Boznańska and her sister frequented Mr and Mrs Sainsèr, and in 1899 she painted their portraits, and around 1910 she painted a striking portrait of their daughter with her family ('Portrait of Mr and Mrs Richet with daughter Jacqueline', private collection, France). Sainsèr followed Olga Boznanska's work, valued her and advised her on the selection of paintings for subsequent exhibitions. He was therefore able to influence the acquisition of her paintings for the French collection.

The purchase of Miss Dygat's portrait was also commented on in the Krakow 'Czas', as Boznańska was reported in a letter by her friend Franciszek Mączyński, at the same time describing the reaction of some compatriots to her success: "Zloty, today in 'Czas' the news of the purchase of the painting to Luxembourg is reported. I found this out from Takies [?] at the railway station - 'Because I knew a ... Boznanska -a... I liked in Munich - I visited -a... she had her best period at that time, but later ... ". So I pointed out that there are extremely interesting things in Paris that you have not seen - "a ... sir, does she know how to draw" - "what do you mean by that word?". It is shown that it was to compose 'great machins', for this gentleman 'it' is only a gift and it is a talent - obvious, portraiture is a thing they do for 'leisure'. Titian example, "for I know perfectly a.... Italy, sir." Of course I ended the conversation. [...] God, and here we are still so far away that despair - hope in the fact that the young souls feel you, worship you as you are even without the 'grand machina'".

In another letter, Mączyński reported on a discussion in the 'Kurier Warszawski': "whether Olga Boznańska's painting in Luxembourg is the first of the Polish accepted there or not".

Acquired by the French state for the Salon Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, 1904, included in the collection of the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, 1905, since 1981 in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay (inv. no. RF 1980 72).

Technical data: oil, cardboard, 82 × 60 cm.