Realism · 1884
John Singer Sargent 1856–1925
The Met · New York
A society beauty in a black gown of scandalous elegance — the portrait that nearly ruined Sargent in Paris.
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Chapter 1 of 7
Before you stands the portrait that nearly destroyed a career. Paris, eighteen eighty-four. John Singer Sargent — a young American dazzling the French art world — exhibits this image of socialite Virginie Gautreau at the Salon.
The reaction is immediate, and devastating. The crowd calls it shameless. Sargent is shaken.
He will not sell it for thirty years.
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