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Portrait of Madame X
American painter John Singer Sargent, at one time the world's most famous and highly paid portrait painter, is best known for his portraits of American and English social celebrities. In 1884, before he had achieved acclaim, a scandal erupted when he exhibited Portrait of Madame X in Paris. In it, socialite Madame Gautreau is shown wearing a low-cut gown that critics deemed erotic. Paris was offended, Gautreau refused the painting, and Sargent moved to London.

A gorgeous lady indeed! Well portrayed too, of course.

Analysis of Portrait of Madame X by John Singer Sargent

Portrait of Madame X is a painting of Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau (1859-1915), the New Orleans-born wife of Pierre Gautreau, a wealthy businessman. At the time, she was a well-known Parisian socialite named, noted for her beauty, who occasionally posed as a model for eminent artists. Exhibited at the 1884 Salon, the painting was Sargent's idea and was intended to boost his career as a society portraitist (he was 28 at the time). But instead, its daring and sensual content - in particular, its off-the-shoulder dress strap - caused a scandal, and actually led to a loss of commissions. As a result, the artist left Paris and settled in London. Sargent himself considered Madame X to be one of his greatest portrait paintings and kept it displayed in his studio until he sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1916, not long after Gautreau's death.