Strapless : John Singer Sargent and the fall of Madame X
/ Deborah Davis
- New York : Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin Group , 2004
- 310 p. : illus. ; 22 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [283]-293) and index
The subject of John Singer Sargent's most famous painting was twenty-three-year-old New Orleans Creole Virginie Gautreau, who moved to Paris and quickly became the "it girl" of her day. A relative unknown at the time, Sargent won the commission to paint her; the two must have recognized in each other a like-minded hunger for fame. Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait generated the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom.