Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau

About

American-born Parisian socialite who gained eternal fame as the subject of American artist John Singer Sargent's painting Portrait of Madame X. Sargent unveiled the painting at the Paris Salon of 1884. The pose and the costume of the Madame X figure created a scandal, and critics reviled it. Initially a blow to Sargent, in time he regained stature and went on to even greater success. Gautreau, however, never fully recovered from the uproar, and slowly disappeared into obscurity.

Before Fame

Gautreau was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to European Creole parents. Her mother was a descendant of French nobility. Her mother's brother was a Louisiana senator and judge. Her father served as a major in the Confederate army and was killed in the Battle of Shiloh. After the Civil War, Gautreau's mother moved the two of them back to France, where she was given a French education and introduced to French high society in Paris.

Trivia

She had an hourglass figure and pale skin, and many suitors and affairs. She enhanced her fair complexion with lavender-colored face and body powder and dyed her brunette hair and eyebrows with henna.

Family Life

Her husband was banker and shipping magnate Pierre Gautreau. They had a daughter, Louise Gautreau. 

Associated With

Sargent used a technique called "alla prima," or "direct painting." It's the same wet-on-wet style of painting used by the late Bob Ross. He also wielded what critics called a "heavily loaded brush," which led to the "dash and go" method later taught to Georgia O'Keeffe.