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Friday, August 8, 2014

Madame X

The painter Sargent had no idea his portrait of Madame Pierre Gautreau, known for her artful appearance, would become the talk of Paris at the Salon of 1884. Sargent hoped to enhance his reputation by painting her portrait, but instead of praise critics dished out nothing but ridicule.Read about it (here).

 

3 comments:

  1. oh i rather like the original. with the strap down...i guess i can see as it was rather suggestive of the time period...but then again the risk seems to bring the reward....

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  2. Funny of how dull some things were taboo back then. I hear there was a time where women couldn't even show their ankles

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  3. Strap down would have been much better.
    Very interesting account - thanks, Stephen.

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