#MadameX #JohnSingerSargent #Sargent #PortraitOfMadameX #ArtHistory #ScandalousArt #MetMuseum #MetropolitanMuseumOfArt #ParisianScandal

Dragon Age Themed master study!

Left: “Portrait of Madame X” by John Singer Sargent, 1883-84

Right: “Inquisitor Nethra Lavellan-Rainier” by me, 2025

I may do this with other classic paintings too! All for funsies!

#art #dragonage #JohnSingerSargent #mictheweisart #lavellan #portraitofmadamex

portrait of madame hiss: sketch > lineart > finished work 🐱🐾

QRP with your sketch vs final artwork! ✨

#art #digitalart #cats #catart #ArtistsOfBlueSky #CatsOfBlueSky #monochrome #grayscale #blackandwhite #PortraitOfMadameX #sketch #lineart

kittified 2: portrait of madame hiss🐱🐾(small version)

i was so excited to make this one, couldn't stop giggling at my own little joke😹

shares are greatly appreciated!🖤

#art #digitalart #cats #catart #ArtistsOfBlueSky #CatsOfBlueSky #monochrome #grayscale #blackandwhite #PortraitOfMadameX

On April 6, 1862 disaster befell the Avegno family. A rich creole, mercantile family in New Orleans, the father Anatole Avegno decided to raise a contingent of soldiers called the Avegno Zoaves (named after the mercenary soldiers who fought for the Pope during the Papal Wars in Italy). On this particular day however, at the Battle of Shiloh, he faced off against two writers: Lew Wallace (author of Ben Hur) and Ambrose Bierce (author of The Devil's Dictionary). Unfortunately, he lost and he and all of his men were killed on that day. His wife and daughter (Virginie) were forced to sell up, and move back to France. There Virginie attended finishing school and met and married an older banker by the name of Pierre Gautreau. In those days, it was common for people of a certain class to have mistresses, and this was accepted as long as there was no proof of infidelity. One day Virginie's lover, a Parisian doctor, mentioned that a fellow countryman of hers was painting the most enchanting portraits and suggested that she get hers done. The artist was John Singer Sargent, an ex-pat American who had grown up in Italy. She sat for him, and the painting on the left was the result. The painting outraged Parisian society. It showed a woman who was seemed to be coming out of her dress. Remember what I said about there "being no signs of infidelity". There were lines around the Paris Salon and an uproar in society, and Virginie was forced to spend the next 10 years in the Gautreau country house away from polite society. The painting however, made Sargent's reputation as a painter, and on the strength of this painting he moved to London and began painting the cream of British society. He kept this painting for many years, and eventually repainted the strap (at left) before selling it to the Met with the proviso that it always be titled The Portrait of Madame X. The model could never be identified.

I love the story behind a painting almost as much as the painting itself. This is the story of a painting, The Portrait of Madame X, that made and unmade two very different people. Read the Alt text for more details.

#art #arthistory #johnsingersargent #portraitofmadamex