Unfortunately, I know very little about Rembrandt's life. I also greatly enjoyed reading about Paris during the Belle Epoque. At any rate, reading this book told me more about Sargent, rendering him more alive to me. I also learned that it apparently was landscape painting which was his favorite and it was those which awed me as much as some of the watercolors. Finally, I saw an exhibit of his landscapes at the Gardner museum here and know of no other painter as impressive in this regard. Some of his watercolors have flabbergasted me by their display of technical ability. I have not found portraits to be the most interesting paintings, but it has been his technical abilities which I admired so much. I never really knew much about Sargent's life except that I heard that he painted with a trowel! I have seen Madame X at the Metropolitan many times and have seen many of his paintings here in Boston. AUTHORBIO: Deborah Davis is a writer and veteran film executive who has worked as story editor and analyst for Warner Bros., Columbia TriStar, Disney, Miramax, and the William Morris Agency.įor many years now Sargent and Rembrandt have been my two favorite painters. Her reputation irreparably damaged, Gautreau retired from public life, destroying all the mirrors in her home.ĭrawing on documents from private collections and other previously unexamined materials, and featuring a cast of characters including Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner, Strapless is a tale of art and celebrity, obsession and betrayal. Sargent had painted one strap of Gautreau's dress dangling from her shoulder, suggesting either the prelude to or the aftermath of sex. Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait generated the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom. 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.
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.
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