This is my watercolor portrait of Maria Konopnicka. She was a Polish poet, novelist, journalist, women's rights activist, but also an activist against the repression on Poles and Catholics in Prussia. Her works were also about poverty, peasantry, workers, and the Polish Jews. Because of her sympathy for the Jewish people she was described as a philosemite.
She even got a manor house from her readers who gathered funds in something that we would call "crowdfunding" today:
"Due to the growing popularity of her writings, in 1902 a number of Polish activists decided to reward her by buying her a manor house."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Konopnicka
As a historical note, with regard to her political activism, it is worth explaining that:
the Prussian government wanted to "germanize" its Polish population (Polish language was not allowed to be taught at schools or used in public offices). Also the Catholic faith was discriminated against, as most Poles were Catholics and most Germans (in Prussia) were Protestants. Poland lost its independence to Prussia, Austria and Russia in the end of the 18-th century and regained it only in 1918.
After a long period of failed uprisings mainly in the 19-th century, in the end of that century many Polish activists decided that further attempts at regaining independence by force should be abandoned. They believed that independence must be won gradually through "organic" work (mainly education, economic improvement). This was called the Positivist Movement, and Konopnicka was one of its best known representatives.