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The painting that scandalized Paris — and the woman behind it. Deborah Davis’s Strapless tells the story of John Singer Sargent’s Madame X: the 1884 portrait whose slipped shoulder strap caused the scandal of the decade, and of Virginie Gautreau, the Louisiana-born beauty who dared Paris to stare — and paid the price.
Davis reconstructs the Belle Époque art world with novelistic flair: Sargent’s ambition, Gautreau’s notoriety, the salon that gasped. It is art history as social drama — and a meditation on fame, beauty, and the price of being looked at, as relevant now as in 1884.
Delicious and smart: the perfect companion to the painting. You will never pass the Met’s Madame X without thinking of this book — or of the woman in black. Davis brings Belle Époque Paris vividly to life: the salons, the scandals, the silk. Art history as page-turner: elegant, gossipy, and smart. Irresistible.
Deborah Davis’s Strapless unveils the scandalous story behind one of art history’s most famous, iconic portraits—John Singer Sargent’s Madame X.
In 1884 Paris, the ambitious young American painter Sargent persuaded the notorious beauty Virginie Gautreau, Madame Pierre Gautreau, to sit for him. When the portrait was unveiled at the Paris Salon, it caused an absolute sensation: the original showed one jeweled shoulder strap fallen provocatively off her shoulder, and Parisian society was scandalized. The critics howled, commissions dried up, and Sargent—humiliated—repainted the strap, retitled the work, and fled to London.
Drawing on letters, diaries, and social history, Davis brings Belle Époque Paris vividly to life, exploring ambition, reputation, and the price of daring to be different. Part biography, part cultural history, Strapless sheds new light on the woman behind the painting and the artist who risked everything for his art.
A truly captivating read for art lovers, history buffs, and anyone fascinated by the stories behind great paintings.
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