I Am Madame X

Very Interesting Book. Great insight Behind the Painting of Madame X by John Singer Sargent. Well done. A Novel based on a lot of True Facts.

Gioia Diliberto's fictionalized account of Virginie Gautreau breathes life into a woman and her story that I didn't know anything about before picking up the book. I became fascinated with her and how this one painting, which doesn't seem so scandalous now, and how it ruined John Sargeant's career in France so he left to pick up his career in England. I also found that the author of this book made a website, www.iammadamex.com, which I enjoyed.

This book has all the romance and drama of fiction, and yet a powerful sense of authenticity. Because it is a novel, I felt I was able to get close to that legendary figure of "Madame X," and to understand her, in a way that would not have been possible in a conventional biography. I loved her in all her glamor and complexity, and I learned so much about the art world, and about Paris of the 19th. century. The novel gave me everything I would want in a work of fiction, a sense of being inside the characters, and at the same time, I gained an education! I really couldn't put it down.

Few portraits capture the eye as arrestingly as John Singer Sargent's Madame X. And, at an unveiling, few portraits cause the stir and affect lives as greatly as did this full-length study of a beautiful woman in a chic black gown. With the skill of a consummate dramatist biographer Gioia Diliberto has penned her first novel by drawing upon the few facts known about Singer's mysterious subject. The result is a fully realized, fascinating story rich in period detail. As was known to the Paris Salon in 1884 and as we know today when Madame X hangs in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art the haughty yet beguiling woman is Virginie Gautreau. Born in New Orleans and raised on her grandmother's Louisiana sugar plantation, Virginie, her mother, and younger sister, Valentine, sought refuge in France as tides began to turn in the Civil War. Her most vivid memory of life at Parlange, as the plantation was called, is of her Aunt Julie's wedding day. In an attempt to escape an unwanted marriage 28-year-old Julie, an aspiring artist, threw herself from a second floor gallery breaking both legs. "Men are bothersome beings," Julie had said. "I don't want to spend my days worrying about one." Then 6-year-old Virginie may have heeded her aunt's words, as she seldom worried about the well being of men but used them to her advantage. Upon arriving in Paris Virginie is sent to a dreaded convent school where she meets her first friend, Aurelie. Unbeknownst to Virginie her friend is "passing for white," and is expelled from the school when an outraged letter is received from Virginie's mother. The loss of her friend and confidant is devastating to Virginie, and is one of many attempts by her mother to manage the young girl's life in order to use her as an entree to the higher echelons of Parisian society. But Virginie is not easily managed. She is soon recognized as a unique beauty and comes to expect the tributes she receives as her right. At the age of 15 she begins an affair with the handsome, unscrupulous Dr.Pozzi, ignoring her mother's shrieked warning: "He has a heart like an artichoke - a leaf for everyone, as the old Creoles used to say." When she becomes pregnant Pozzi refuses to marry her, and insists upon an abortion. Heartbroken and fearful, the young Virginie accepts the proposal of Pierre Gautreau, an older banker who suggests a "marriage blanc," in which he will have no husbandly rights and they will lead separate lives. Following a miscarriage Virginie devoted every waking hour to her appearance, turning her hair to a "deep, rich mahogany," whitening her skin, and rouging her ears. She embraced the dictum, "A woman's first duty is to be beautiful." The gowns she chose were daring for their bareness, accentuating her porcelain shoulders, and making her the focal point of every gathering. She soon was noted for her boldness as well as her beauty, and began an affair with political leader Leon Gambetta. When Sargent initially appr

I read the book following rave reviews from my wife and 15 year old daughter, both of whom were riveted by it. We all then made a trip to the Metropolitan Museum in New York to behold the marvelous portrait. We then spent a lunch in museum discussing I am Madame X and how alive she seemed to us in both the painted and written portraits, both of which are worthy of one another. The unanimous verdict in our household is that the author has done a spectacular job recreating the beguiling, exotic world of Madame X and the fascinating French and American personalities around her. We can only hope that a second volume will explain further the mystery of the rouged ears!

I read this book with very few pauses. I have been interested in the art piece 'Madame X' but the book made it come alive. Of course, it is fiction, but I want it to be real. I know that the story is based on facts and bits and pieces of documentation that are available to the author, but the story that she has woven around this tangible evidence is so otherworldly that I was lost for a full two days as I read. I was wishing to be Madame X and wanting for the tale to be true and yet not at the same time due to the tragic romanticism. It was truly a great read.