Strapless

by Deborah Davis

Reynolds, Joshua

  Ring of the Nibelung , The (Wagner)

  Robe d’intérieur

  Robinson, Charles “Chuck,” 261

  Robinson, Edward

  Rockefeller, John D.

  Rosenblum, Robert

  Rosicrucians

  Rossetti, Dante Gabriel

  Royal Academy of Art (London)

  Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose at

  portrait of Pozzi at

  Sacred Grove, The (Puvis de Chavannes)

  Sain, Édouard

  St. Botolph Club (Boston)

  St. Charles Hotel (New Orleans)

  St.-Énogat (France)

  St. Louis Hotel (New Orleans)

  St.-Malo (France)

  Salon (Paris)

  and photography

  and portraits

  Sargent’s entries

  Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, The

  Fumée d’Ambre Gris

  El Jaleo

  Madame Édouard Pailleron

  Misses Vickers, The

  Mrs. Albert Vickers

  Oyster Gatherers at Cancale

  Portrait of Carolus-Duran

  Portrait de Mme * * * (Madame X)

  Salon de la Rose-Croix

  Sargent, Emily (sister of John Singer)

  Sargent, Fitzwilliam (father of John Singer)

  death

  and son’s art

  Sargent, Fitzwilliam, Jr. (brother of John Singer)

  Sargent, John Singer

  as art student

  biography of

  career

  in America

  international success

  Madame X and

  post-Madame X

  success

  death and memorials

  exhibitions

  first one-man show

  of Madame X

  See also Salon

  generosity

  London trips

  and Louise Burckhardt

  and Madame X

  move to London

  as musician

  painting technique

  paintings

  Paris studio

  personality

  portrait of Amélie Gautreau

  Salon exhibition

  sketches for

  as portraitist

  and Pozzi

  Sargent, John Singer (cont.)

  as prospective son-in-law

  relationships with men

  Belleroche

  Henry James

  Pozzi

  relationships with women

  Louise Burckhardt

  Gautier

  reputation after death

  romance and

  Salon entries

  sexuality

  social life

  in America

  in England

  and World War I

  See also Paintings by Sargent

  Sargent, Mary Singer (mother of John Singer)

  trips to America

  Sargent, Mary Winthrop (sister of John Singer)

  Sargent, Violet (sister of John Singer)

  Sargent family. See also individual Sargent entries

  Sears, Willard T.

  Seurat, Georges

  Shopping, Paris

  Silhouette, Étienne de

  Silhouette portraits

  Simmons, Edward

  Singer, Mary Newbold. See also Sargent, Mary Singer

  Sisley, Alfred

  Sitwell, Osbert

  Skin-lightening procedures

  Slave Market in Rome (Gérôme)

  Social commentary, Madame X as

  Society, Paris, 1870s-1880s

  Madame X as symbol of

  Soluri, Patrick

  Spalding & Rogers Circus

  Spectator, The

  Spitzer, Frederic

  Staffe, Baroness

  Subercaseaux, Ramón

  Submission Day, Paris Salon

  Tate Gallery (London)

  Tea gown

  Technique, painting, Sargent’s

  Ternant, Claude Vincent

  Ternant, Julie Euriphile

  Ternant, Marie Virginie. See also Avegno, Marie Virginie Ternant

  Ternant, Marius Claude Vincent

  Ternant, Virginie Trahan. See also Parlange, Virginie Trahan Ternant; Trahan, Virginie

  Thiers, Adolphe

  Third Republic

  socioeconomic conditions

  Thirteenth Louisiana Infantry

  Three Profiles of Madame Gautreau (Sargent)

  Tissot, James Jacques Joseph

  Titanic

  Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de

  Trahan, Joseph Leufroy

  Trahan, Virginie. See also Parlange, Virginie Trahan Ternant; Ternant, Virginie Trahan

  Travel, Sargent and

  Traveling Musicians (Meissonier)

  Treatise on Gynaecology, Clinical and Operative (Pozzi)

  Triumph of Religion, The (Sargent)

  Trochu, Louis

  Troppmann, Jean-Baptiste

  United States

  Civil War

  and French art

  Sargent family trip to

  Uzanne, Octave

  van Gogh, Vincent

  Vanderbilt, Mrs. William Henry

  Varnishing Day, Paris Salon n163

  Madame X exhibition

  Vathek (Beckford)

  Velázquez, Diego

  Don Antonio el Inglés (Sargent copy)

  “Venus” (Montesquiou)

  Verlaine, Paul

  Vickers, Thomas

  daughters of

  portrait

  La Vie Parisienne

  Visseaux, Julie

  Wagner, Christine Planer

  Wagner, Cosima

  Wagner, Richard

  Judith Gautier and

  Warhol, Andy

  Washington Square Arch

  Watts, Frances

  Wax museum, Paris

  Wedding, Avegno-Gautreau

  Wedgwood, Eliza

  Wertheimer, Asher

  Wertheimer, Betty and Ena

  Westminster Abbey, memorial service for Sargent

  Whispers (Sargent)

  Whistler, James

  Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell

  White, Margaret (Mrs. Henry)

  White, Stanford

  Wilde, Oscar

  Wilhelm II (Kaiser)

  Will & Grace

  Wilmurt, Thomas A.

  Wilson, Woodrow

  Wolff, Albert

  Woman with the Glove, The (Carolus-Duran)

  Women

  as art students

  French

  health concerns

  nude, in paintings

  Sargent and

  World War I, Sargent and

  Worth, Charles

  Yamamoto ( Japanese artist)

  Youth of Bacchus, The (Bouguereau)

  Zillhardt, Madeleine

  Zola, Émile

  Au Bonheur des Dames

  Nana

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Three people are responsible for this book: Mark Urman, my beloved husband, muse, collaborator, and champion; my wonderful mother, Jean Gatto, who gave me my first book and has always believed that I could do anything; and Wendy Silbert, my dear friend and agent, whose boundless enthusiasm and support turned a dream into a reality. I am also deeply indebted to the incomparable Scott Waxman and to Alexandra Tallen, my remarkable researcher and translator.

  When I started my research, I was afraid the art world would be closed to me as an outsider. The opposite was true. The people at Adelson Galleries in New York, otherwise known as “Sargent Central,” were especially warm and welcoming. My sincere thanks to the delightful Elizabeth Oustinoff for her knowledge and good humor, and to Warren Adelson for his extraordinary wisdom and generosity. I also thank Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, authors of John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, the first volume of the Sargent catalogue raisonné, for providing an invalu
able resource and wonderfully entertaining reading.

  I am grateful to Carol Vance Wall for her inspirational thoughts about Lily Millet; Marie-Christine Ruellan for acting as my guide in Brittany; Brian J. Costello and Robert de Berardinis for their study of and astute observations on Amélie Gautreau’s New Orleans years; and Kay Rapier (daughter of Mettha Westfeldt Eshleman) for her interest and support.

  Thanks as well to Mark Cave at the Williams Research Center of the Historic New Orleans Collection, Linda Hollander, George Jordan, Tom and Ellie Avegno, Stephanie Herdrich, Dr. Valerie Steele at the Museum at FIT, Mario Pereira at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Carolyn Peter at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Olga Ferguson at the Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums, Manonmani Filliozat at the Archives Municipales de Saint-Malo, Jean-Pierre Blin at the Conservatoire Municipal Agréé de Musique / Château des Chênes, Julie Zeftel at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Blair Bunting Darnell, Dana Hart-nett, Angèle Parlange, Lucy and Walter Parlange, Charles “Chuck” Robinson, Stephan Houy-Towner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Library, Lydia Dufour at the Frick Collection, and the staffs of the New York Public Library and the Montclair Art Museum Library.

  At Tarcher, my deepest appreciation to Wendy Hubbert, Ashley Shelby, and Meredith Phebus.

  Finally, I acknowledge my grandmother Anna Cianci. She did not live to see Strapless, but her lovely spirit encourages me every day.

  FURTHER INFORMATION FOR THE COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS

  Photograph of Avegno sisters: Eshleman Collection, 2001-52-L, The Mettha Westfeldt Eshleman Bequest, The Williams Research Center of the Historic New Orleans Collection.

  Dr. Pozzi at Home: Oil on canvas, 79⅜ x 40¼ inches. The Armand Hammer Collection, Gift of the Armand Hammer Foundation, UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

  Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast: (P3w41). © Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

  Madame Gautreau (Madame X): Watercolor. Courtesy Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop. Photograph by David Mathews. Image copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

  Photograph of Madame Gautreau: Scrapbook of photographic reproductions of paintings by John Singer Sargent, p. 49: Madame X, albumen print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Thomas J. Watson Library, Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond, 1950 (192 SA 7 Sa 78 Q). All rights reserved, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau): Oil on canvas, 82⅛ x 43¼ inches (208.6 x 109.9 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1916. (16.53). Photograph © 1997 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  A Gust of Wind: Photograph courtesy Adelson Galleries, Inc., New York.

  Courtois, Madame Gautreau: Oil on canvas. Photograph by B. Hatala. © Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, NY, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Deborah Davis is a writer and veteran film executive who has worked as a story editor and story analyst for companies including Warner Bros., Columbia TriStar, Disney, Miramax, and the William Morris Agency. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

  JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. New York