"Portrait of Madame X" ( fr. Portrait de Madame X ) - a portrait of the Parisian socialite Virginie Gotrot , written by American artist John Sargent in 1884.
John Singer Sargent | ||
Portrait of Madame X. 1884 | ||
Portrait de Madame X | ||
Canvas, oil. 234.85 × 109.86 cm | ||
Metropolitan Museum , New York | ||
( inventory number ) | ||
The painting depicts a lady in a black evening dress with straps made of precious stones. On the original version of the picture, one of the strapless coats was lowered. The portrait is characterized by the contrast between pale skin with a dark dress and a background.
Content
History
The portrait was not commissioned by Madame Gotro, but at the request of Sargent [1] , who first saw her in 1881, was struck by the beauty and through a friend asked Virginia Gotro for permission to write her portrait [2] . Sargent hoped that this picture will attract much attention at the upcoming Paris Salon and arouse the interest of potential customers. Although Madame Gotro had already rejected several such requests, she agreed to Sargent’s proposal in February 1883, [3] perhaps because the artist was as expatriate as herself and both needed attention to achieve higher status in French society [4] .
Work in the winter of 1883 progressed slowly due to Madame Gotro’s stormy social life and the fact that she did not have the assiduity of a model that the artist had to pose for a long time. At her suggestion, Sargent visited the estate of Gotro in Brittany in June 1883, where he made a series of sketches in pencil, watercolor and oil [5] . After this trip, there are about 30 drawings, representing Madame Gotre in various poses. The sketch with the oil Madame Gotro Is Drinking a Toast ( Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum ), as well as the final portrait, depicts Virginie Gotro in profile with her bare arms against a dark background, but is more freestyle than “Portrait of Madame X”. In the provinces, the work on the portrait did not advance faster than in Paris, since Madame Gotro and here led a tense social life, constantly receiving guests. Sargent complained about her "beauty, which is impossible to portray, and hopeless laziness" [6] .
For the final version of the portrait, Sargent chose a pose for Gotro when the body is turned towards the artist, his head is turned in profile, and his right arm is pulled back and rests on a low table. In this way, tension was created, which allowed to emphasize the elegant contours of the model [7] . Even after selecting the composition, the work went slowly, only by the autumn the portrait was close to completion [1] [8] .
Before completing the work on the painting, Virginia Gotro was very inspired and confident that the portrait would be a masterpiece [9] . The first show in the Paris Salon called "Portrait of Madame ***" in 1884 caused a scandal and shock among the public. The artist's intention to preserve the anonymity of the model was unsuccessful. It was clear to any representative of French high society that Madame Gotrot was depicted in the picture. The underlined paleness of the skin of the model and the pink tint of her ear were perceived as a hint of makeup, the use of which was considered a sign of vulgarity and bad taste in high society and was associated with women of low social status. Gotro's mother demanded that Sargent remove the portrait from the exhibition, but he refused [10] . Immediately after the show in the Salon, the picture became the object of ridicule in the tabloid press. She was called a new model for the ace of spades, hinting at the outlines of the upper part of the dress. There were cartoons on the portrait.
Later, the artist rewrote the strap dress, lifting it on his shoulder and changed the name to "Portrait of Madame X" to make the picture more impersonal and mysterious, but this situation has not saved. The reaction of the public turned into disappointment for both the model and the artist. Madame Gotro was humiliated by scandal. Career Sargent, which he carefully lined up in Paris society, was destroyed [11] , rich clients canceled all their orders, and the artist was soon forced to move to London and then to the USA , where he became famous as a talented portrait painter and painted portraits of presidents and famous businessmen.
Sargent put "Portrait of Madame X", first in his Parisian, and then in the London workshop. Since 1905, the picture was shown at several international exhibitions and in 1916 was sold to the Metropolitan Museum , whose director Sargent wrote: "I think this is the best thing I've done at the moment" [12] [13] . The second, unfinished version of the portrait in the same position, but with the right strap lowered, is on display in the Tate Gallery in London.
Seven years after the portrait of Sargent, Gustave Courtois ( fr. Gustave Courtois ) wrote a new portrait of Madame Gotro with a face in profile, in a dress of a similar style, but even more frank. This time the public reaction was more supportive. In 1897, Virginie Gotro posed for a portrait of the work of Antonio de la Gandar . She considered this portrait to be her best image [8] .
In the theater
The story of the picture formed the basis of the ballet "Strapless" ( Royal Ballet , 2016 ). Staged by Christopher Wildon , libretto by Charlotte Western and Christopher Wildon based on the book by Deborah Davis, music by M.-A. Tournage, Bob Crowley set design; Virginia Gotro - Natalia Osipova , John Sargent - Edward Watson .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Kilmurray, 1999 , p. 101.
- ↑ Davis, 2003 , p. 15.
- ↑ Davis, 2003 , p. 14–15.
- ↑ Prettejohn, 1998 , p. 26
- ↑ Davis, 2003 , p. sixteen.
- ↑ Davis, 2003 , p. 16-17.
- ↑ Davis, 2003 , p. 17
- ↑ 1 2 Davis, 2003 , p. 20.
- ↑ Davis, 2003 , p. 18.
- ↑ Kilmurray, 1998 , p. 114
- ↑ Kilmurray, 1999 , p. 28
- ↑ Prettejohn, 1998 , p. 27.
- ↑ Kilmurray, 1999 , p. 102
Literature
- Kilmurray, Elizabeth, Ormond, Richard. John Singer Sargent. - Tate Gallery Publishing Ltd ,, 1999. - ISBN 0-87846-473-5 .
- Kilmurray, Elizabeth, Ormond, Richard. John Singer Sargent. - Tate Gallery Publishing Ltd ,, 1998.
- Davis, Deborah. Sargent's Women. - Adelson Galleries, Inc., 2003. - ISBN 0-9741621-0-8 .
- Prettejohn, Elizabeth. Interpreting Sargent. - Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1998.
Links
- "Portrait of Madame X" in the database of the Metropolitan Museum (Eng.)