A young woman, dressed in dark clothes and sitting upright, bends over the knitting in her hands with her head tilted and seems to be smiling slightly to herself. Her attention is focused on a child's sock, the light yarn of which matches the color of the airy cloth wrapped around her shoulders. It was only when the painting was restored in 2010 that the small cat with white paws, stretching in her lap, became visible again. In three-quarter profile, Marianne von Werefkin portrays Vera Repin, the wife of her teacher at the time, Ilya Repin. She sits in front of a gray background that reflects the soft spotlight that also shines on the young woman. In 1880, the talented Marianne von Werefkin, then 20 years old, became a private student of Ilya Repin, an important representative of Russian realism. It is assumed that the famous teacher supported her in this picture, which was created in 1881. Two years later, Marianne von Werefkin enrolled in the "School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture" in Moscow. Ilya Repin was a member of the enlightened Russian painting group "Peredwischniki" - in German: "Wanderers". Their aim was to use their works to draw attention to socially disadvantaged population groups and their often difficult living conditions. A concern to which Marianne von Werefkin also felt committed. Throughout her life, she had a need to look "behind the scenes", into people's souls. Even in this early portrait, she managed to convey the calm and balance of the scene to the viewer. In this first, artistically important phase of Werefkin's work in the period before 1890, the young painter had already made a name for herself in the realistic painting of the Tsarist Empire - as a female "Russian Rembrandt".