Anna Rajecka

She was born to a portrait painter named Józef Rajecki and raised as a protégée of king Stanisław August Poniatowski of Poland.

She studied with Ludwik Marteau and Marcello Bacciarelli in Warsaw; Jean-Baptiste Greuze and possibly Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun in Paris.

The purpose of the Polish king in paying for her education was that she should return to Poland and become a professor of art, but she chose to remain in Paris after her marriage to the miniaturist, Pierre-Marie Gault de Saint-Germain in 1788.

She became the first Polish female to have her work represented at the Salon in 1791 and apparently continued to receive support from the king until 1792.

She painted the circle around the Polish royal court and, in Paris, received numerous commissions from the local aristocracy, thanks to the reluctant influence of the king's agent, Filippo Mazzei, who felt that she had little talent and was difficult to deal with.