Jeanna Bauck meets the viewer’s gaze, in a portrait that conveys a strong sense of her presence. She is shown as a professional woman, of value in her own right. Bertha Wegmann combines the free, independent female ideal of the period with elegant middle-class femininity. The artist Bauck has her professional attributes by her side: brushes, palette and painting rags. She holds a book, symbolising her position as an intellectual. Behind her, through the window, we can make out the rooftops of Paris.