| Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau | |
|---|---|
John Singer Sargent, Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau), 1884, oil on canvas, 234.95 x 109.86 cm, Manhattan: Metropolitan Museum of Art |
|
| Born | January 29, 1859 New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Died | July 25, 1915 (aged 56) Cannes, France |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | French, Italian |
| Known for | Subject of John Singer Sargent's painting Portrait of Madame X |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Spouse | Pierre Gautreau |
Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau (January 29, 1859[1]–July 25, 1915) was a Parisian socialite, artists' model and an American expatriate. She is perhaps most widely known as the subject of John Singer Sargent's painting Portrait of Madame X.
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Virginie Amélie Gautreau was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 29, 1859, the daughter of Anatole Placide Avegno (July 3, 1835- April 1862) and Marie Virginie de Ternant, of Parlange Plantation. Her parents were white Creoles; her father was of paternal Italian ancestry, and her mother was a descendant of French nobility.
In 1867, at the age of eight, Virginie and her mother moved to France where they quickly ensconced themselves in the highest echelons of French society. Her father, son of Philippe Avegno and Catherine Genois, had served as a Major in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War; and he had died in 1862 of a leg wound he received in the Battle of Shiloh. He was the commander of the Avegno Zouaves of New Orleans, a cosmopolitan battalion which had French, Spanish, Mexican, Irish, Italian, and Chinese soldiers amongst its six companies.
She had a sister, Valentine, who died of yellow fever.
A pale-skinned brunette with fine, cameo-like features and an hourglass figure, Virginie became one of Paris's most conspicuous beauties. To enhance her ivory complexion Gautreau wore lavender-colored face and body powder. She was known to dye her hair with henna and pencil in her eyebrows. She also attracted much admiration due to her elegance and chic avant-garde style. She married a French banker and shipping magnate Pierre Gautreau but that did not prevent her seeking the company of other men. Subsequently she became notorious for her numerous infidelities.
She posed for paintings by several noted 19th-century painters, including Gustave Courtois and Antonio de La Gandara, and most famously was the model for John Singer Sargent's "Portrait of Madame X," which created a cultural scandal when it was exhibited in 1884 at the Paris Salon. The scandal caused Virginie to retire from society.
Gautreau's and Sargent's intertwined stories are the subject of Strapless by Deborah Davis (Tarcher Penguin 2004). Her story is also the subject of "I am Madame X: A novel" by Gioia Diliberto (Scribner 2004).
Virginie died in Paris on July 25, 1915 and was buried in the Gautreau family crypt at the Chateau des Chenes in Saint-Malo, Brittany.