Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X, (Paperback)

from bogopea

Interesting read on a painting that I never knew the back story of. However, a lot of the book was simplistic and could have been left out.

from gbelik

While this book focuses on John Singer Sargent's famous painting of Virginie Amelie Gautreau, its creation and the reaction to it, it also tells much of his and his model's life history and the world of art in the late 19th century. Thoroughly enjoyable.

from maryreinert

Reading like an interesting encyclopedia article, this was a bit slow to get into, but after a while the story unfolded. John Singer Sargent was born to an American family but never lived in America until he was an adult. A talented artist, he studied in Paris with the best teachers and soon earn...

from AnaraGuard

I enjoyed this carefully researched history of Mme. Gautreau and John Singer Sargent, who painted her portrait. The author filled out their lives to let us see who they were, how they came together, what the relationship meant to each of them and then, how the scandal over the painting rocked the...

from lanaing

Very interesting. The end was a little boring so it didn't really leave as good of an impression as I had hoped. Over all, an entertaining non-fiction to use as a window to France in the late 1800's.