Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau also known as Madame X, a high society woman who was famous for her elegant appearance, was born in Louisiana. Sargent attempted to increase his own fame by painting and depicting her beauty in this portrait by working without a commission to emphasize her daring personality and style.
After he finished the portrait he received more mockery than appreciation at the Paris Salon of 1884, Sargent repainted the epaulet and kept the painting. He said, "I think it's the best thing I've ever done," but asked the museum to hide the model's name that he used for the painting.
2.Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose
The painting depicts two children lighting up Chinese lanterns in the gardens of an English estate. The inspiration for the unique piece came during an 1885 boating trip; when Sargent took with him fellow painter Edwin Austin Abbey, on the water, near the Thames at Pangbourne. That evening they saw Chinese lanterns hanging from trees spreading light on a bed of flowers.
This is a John Singer Sargent biography. After Pangbourne, he stayed at his artist friend, Francis David Millet’s Farm House in Broadway, Worcestershire, and there he painted this painting. He worked on it from September 1885 and completed it sometime in October 1886. To recreate a light effect from Pangbourne, he only painted a few minutes every evening to capture the essence that he felt of light at dusk.
3.El Jaleo
Sargent was motivated by a five-month trip he made throughout Europe and North Africa in 1879. Sargent came back to Paris and started working on this enormous canvas. The Jaleo alludes to importance of jaleo dance and incorporates bright lights, a dancing model, and dark colors.
4.The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit
When Sargent arrived in Boston in 1887, the Boit family hosted him at their home and immediately commissioned a portrait from him. This painting was an important composition early on in his career; we fell in love with it and acquired it.
5.Lady Agnew of Lochnaw
A Lady Agnew is portrayed in an eighteenth-century French Bergère chair. Sargent painted her in a three-quarter length canvas, wearing a white outfit with a mauve silk band as an embellishment around her midsection. The cloth behind her is purple Chinese silk of a bluish color. She looks straightforwardly, her expression expressing she is participating in a "close discussion" with the artist, John Singer Sargent.
Sargent painted this portrait in Paris in 1882 when model Maud was modeling for him. It is his final portrait of her. Art history specialist Richard Ormond, said the rear of the seat is utilized as a "bending, supporting space to contain the figure, making an unmistakable lazy elegance". Ormond and Kilmurray comment that Maud was convalescing from flu, when she was modeling for this portrait which may explain her drowsiness look.
