Strapless: Sargent's "Madame X"

The American expatriate artist, John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925), was the most successful portrait painter of his era. He created 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings from locations worldwide including Venice, the Tyrol, Corfu, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.

HIs most famous painting --Madame X --created a scandal at the Paris Salon of 1884. The subject was Madame Gautreax depicted with a spaghette strap falling off her shoulder. The otherwise worldly, sophisticated Parisian society was scandalized by the suggestive gesture. Sargent withdrew the painting and withdrew himself, eventually, to London where he painted another masterpiece --Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose now at the Tate Gallery and his portrait of Ellen Terry now in the National Portrait Gallery.

Earlier, in Boston, Sargent completed another masterpiece: the Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. HIs portrait of Mrs Sears hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.