This painting is called Madame X by John Singer Sargent. Painted in 1883-84.
This portrait is of a young socialite Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau. She was requested to be painted by Sargent, as a study of opposition. This was a move done by the artist to make a name for himself. But with this selfish reason, it has doomed the socialite’s reputation forever.
Virginie was considered a woman with striking beauty, But when sitting for long periods of time for the painting she soon got weary and restless, as she had many other duties to do. she had to tend to her household and its staff, her daughter, and social engagements. Soon afterwards Sargent described her in his painting as ” The unpaintable beauty and hopeless laziness of Madame Gautreau”.
When upon completing the painting it turned out to be beguiling and magnetic. Her pose dynamic is present and absent-minded at the same time. with her body facing towards you, her hand leaning on the table and her face looking away. She is wearing a timeless satin black dress contrasting with her pale face. A small waist draws the attention down to her hand holding a fan that almost disappears into the blackness of the gown.
Why you may be asking.
First of all the dress she wore was scandalous for the 1880s. As the dress she wore was a tightly fitted sweetheart bodice, which exposed her shoulders and cleavage, a far too low neckline. That went completely against the social propriety of what women had to be. To be modest. The fashion in the 1880s was for the bodice of the dress to fully cover a woman’s neck, shoulders and arms. And of course floor-length skirts.
Secondly, her complexion is so pale, that many thought she was ingesting arsenic to lighten her skin. At the time arsenic was advertised to high-class ladies to lighten their skin, and to remove imperfections such as pimples and freckles. It was through the use of arsenic women tried to obtain a beautiful complexion in secret.
So Sargent modified the painting so that the straps would fit snugly over her shoulders, at the request of her mother. But the damage was already done. The Times wrote negatively of Sargent’s painting. They wrote ” Sargent is below his usual standards this year. The pose of the figure is absurd and the blueish colouring atrocious. The features are so exaggerated that the natural delicacy of the outline is entirely lost. Under Sargent’s brush, the so-called beautiful subject looks like a mere caricature.”
This means what the times have said, cemented Madame Gautreaus’ reputation as a loose woman. The public only would see it as provocative and overly sexual.
Afterwards, she remained in France but all her high-profile friends abandoned her. On the other hand, Sargent had a successful career in art later in his life, and never painted anything so bold again.
