This painting from 1884, Madame X, is probably John Singer Sargent’s most famous piece with an intriguing back story.
It wasn’t a commission but self-initiated by Sargent as he thought this painting would make his reputation in Paris. It did but certainly not in the way he had anticipated.
Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau was a famous American-born society beauty known for her very pale skin (according to rumour achieved by taking small doses of arsenic). We do know that she used lavender powder to enhance her pallor. The obvious use of makeup (see the natural flesh pink of her ear) was not considered seemly for respectable ladies and contributed to an impression of loucheness in this portrait.
Both pose and dress were uncommon for the time, particularly as the jewelled strap was originally painted off her shoulder when first exhibited at the Paris Salon. Originally titled Madame ***, it was easily recognised as the respectable banker Pierre Gautreau’s wife and Virginie’s scandalised mother insisted that he remove it from display immediately.
The furore caused him to leave Paris and come to live in London. Lucky London!
He later changed the position of the strap and re-titled it Madame X, only selling it in 1916 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it remains to this day.
One of the sketches, now at Tate Britain, emphasises the ghostly pallor and shows only one strap. Would that have been worse?
I discovered that she was painted again in 1891 by Gustave Courtois with a falling strap but, well, you can see why that didn’t cause a stir.
