Hanka Zborowska, the sitter for this tender and intimate portrait, was the daughter of an old Polish aristocrat who had come to Paris with her husband, Modigliani's friend and dealer, the poet Leopold Zborowski. Zborowski had taken over the management of Modigliani's affairs from Paul Guillaume during 1917, and, unlike the cynical and worldly-wise Guillaume, devoted his energies to furthering the artist's career by searching for suitable models and studios as well as portrait commissions and rich patrons. Modigliani's bohemian manners and life style were profoundly shocking to the refined and aristocratic Hanka. She, however, tolerated his behaviour because she recognised his genius and also because she realised that he and other painters, such as Chaim Soutine whom she described as smelling strongly of the abattoirs where he spent so much time working, were important for the success of her husband's career as an art dealer.

Together the Zborowskis did their best to support the painter both materially and morally. He often stayed in their apartment in the rue Joseph Bara where they cared for him on the many occasions when he was ill. Hanka became in the end, one of Modigliani's most frequent sitters although the relationship between them always remained reserved and cautious. This emotional distance which existed between the two of them is evident in all the portraits of Hanka that Modigliani painted and the present work, although more tender than most, is no exception. This relationship between painter and sitter has been examined by many critics. "The coldness of her unsmiling features does not express anything" writes C. Mann in Modigliani, New York, 1980, p. 164, "they have become a pivotal motif in which Modigliani works in a detached, near abstract way." Hanka stares out from the present work at the spectator, unflinching in her cold, detached manner, whilst Modigliani attempts to give her warmth through the soft tones of the skin and the surrounding background; her poise, however, erect and withdrawn, remains uncompromising. The painter has striven to give form to Hanka's face with his characteristically pure lines, depicting the shape familiar from so many of his portraits; a perfect oval forming her face with small dark blue eyes, balanced delicately on an elegant long neck. "Elle pointe toujours en avant un menton aigu sur le cou le plus Modiglianiesque que l'on puisse voir." (J. Lantheman, Modigliani sans legende, Paris, 1961).

Many of Modigliani's sitters are presented without any of the humanising clutter of their surroundings which is visible in the present work. Here the artist has attempted to soften the coolness and reserve of Hanka by including the arc of her chair to the left and by placing her next to a table with its patterned cloth at which he has set the candlestick and candle. This use of additional elements works as a device to convey spatial depth as well as serving, so successfully, to enhance the impact of the character portrayed.