Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X, by Deborah Davis (2003)
Strapless is about a painting and the story behind the painting. The portrait of Madame X is probably recognizable by almost anyone with any interest in the arts. It is the portrait of a woman from the late 1800s, wearing a black, low-cut dress with thin and jeweled straps. The woman is looking towards her left and her face is in profile. When this painting hit the Paris Salon in 1884 it caused quite a scandal for both the artist, John Singer Sargent, and the subject, Virginia Amélie Gautreau.
Both Sargent and Gautreau were American ex-patriots living in Paris at the time. Virginie Gautreau, known by her friends as Amélie, came from a wealthly Louisiana family that had made its fortune in the sugar cane industry. After the American Civil War, she and her mother moved to Paris, where the family had ties. There she married a wealthy and much older man and made it her business to become a socialite.
John Singer Sargent was an American due to his American parents, but was born and lived much of his life in Europe. He was able to study with the great artists of his time and decided to focus his career on portraits. When he began showing his work at the famous Paris Salon, he began to make a name for himself.
He met the lovely Amélie and wanted to paint her portrait for his entry into the 1884 Salon. She was flighty and didn’t like to pose for long periods of time, however, he eventually convinced her to pose in a revealing black dress. As originally painted, one of the straps was depicted to drop off her shoulder. It was this feature that created the scandal. For months afterwards, the newspapers articles and gossipers talked about the painting. The scandal caused Sargent to flee France and rebuild his painting career.
Amélie, who for years had worked hard on her image to remain in the public spotlight, suddenly was ostracized. Although Amélie and her mother approved of the painting before its public showing, afterwards, they, too, were scandalized. The painting had ruined Amélie’s image, both to herself and in the public’s eye.
Intertwined with Amélie’s story, was the story of Sargent’s painting career. He worked hard to restore his position in the art world. He found patrons in England, where his painted his famous Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose ~ a picture of young girls in a summer garden with Chinese lanterns. I have seen this painting and it is truly amazing! The light from the lanterns seems to truly come from within the painting.
He later began traveling between the United States and Europe. He encounter the formidable Isabella Stewart Gardner and painted her portrait. This portrait scandalized Gardner’s husband, but apparently no one else.
Sargent retained the portrait of Amélie. Because he had not painted it on commission, the Gautreau’s were under no obligation to purchase it. He held on to the painting for over 30 years, before finally selling it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Under the terms of the sale, the painting was to be known as Madame X, hence, Amélie’s name became almost lost to history.
I loved this book. John Singer Sargent is a favorite artist of mine and when his work was on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston several years ago, I made a special trip to view the work.
Read: February 22, 2020
4 Stars
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