X is for "Madam X" by John Singer Sargent and Y is for "Yellow Dress" by Degas

The painting on the left is by John Singer Sargent, an American Artist, called "Portrait de Mm ***" although when it was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1884, it created a scandal.  Everyone knew who the subject was, a wealthy American who married a French banker.  Madam Gautreau was known for her beauty, and her interests were her wardrobe and her pleasures.  John Singer Sargent was entranced with her and convinced her to pose for him, although he struggled with finding the right pose and perspective and having M. Gautreau pose for him long enough to finish the painting.  Unfortunately, the painting caused a scandal.  The pose, the subject, (originally the right strap was off the shoulder), and the fact that he had not quite established himself in France, and the French, being the French, "trashed" the painting.  Sargent was devastated as was M. Gautreau.  Sargent left France a few years later, returned to England and never came back.  He considered the portrait his finest work and later sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

What led me to "Madame X" as the painting came to be known, was Edgar Degas's painting in 1890 of "Seated Woman in a Yellow Dress."  The Madame X painting flashed in my mind.  Was Degas painting the same woman?  The nose, the red hair, the haughty expression seemed to be Madam Gautreau.  Degas rendered this in pastels, and you can imagine since there was such a scandal about Sargent's painting in 1884, Degas would have heard about it and perhaps even gone to see the exhibit.  Six years later, he created his own version.  In later years, French artists painted her, and even though she was wearing revealing gowns, the paintings caused no scandal.  

I was not able to find out any information about "Seated Woman in a Yellow Dress."  This was my own idea.  What do you think?


"Portrait de Mm***" John Singer Sargent. 1883.

"Seated Woman in a Yellow Dress."  

http://www.artble.com/imgs/