The lady in this picture is the patron saint of all engineers ( lucky B*st*rds), and the reason behind it was that most engineering colleges in England had sprung up during the Industrial Revolution. When it migrated to the US, it remained as the mascot (no surprises) and was passed onto their various drinking songs (again, lucky B*st*rds). Her story was often regaled by rogues in MIT and other engineering colleges, and often enacted over there by females ( lucky guys), and sometimes by guys (what the deuce?), until strong feminist views stopped these practices (was it against the girls doing it or the guys?)
Her influence isn't only encompassed by those engineers, as she finds her find figure upon chocolates, a pop music festival, poems (obviously), pictures ( they have more?), and movies (someone send me a link).
As for the question
1) ID the fine piece of art (im not talking about the painting, smirk)
2) Ignore the comments
3) And why is she portrayed as such?
(And why she should be portrayed so again,lol)