[8] The painting depicts 11-year-old Vera Mamontova, a daughter of Russian entrepreneur and patron of the arts Savva Mamontov.

It was a comfortable place for artists not only to gather and discuss important topics, but to live and create.

[10] Valentin Serov knew Vera Mamontova from her babyhood, as he frequently visited Mamontov's Abramtsevo estate, and sometimes he even lived there for lengthy periods of time.

Vera married the head of the Moscow Nobility League, future Chief Prosecutor of the Most Holy Synod Alexander Dmitrievich Samarin [ru] in 1903.

[10][13][15] The painting spawned a Russian Internet meme,[5][16] in which the girl is placed into humorous scenarios or is replaced by a different person or character.