The Scandal Of Madam X

 

It's quite incredible how one's perception of anything at all changes with the passage of time. We all like to think we have our own principles, beliefs and convictions, but none of us are in fact immune to the influence of collective dictations and conditions imposed by laws and regulations, by the culture and etiquette of the period we live in.

No doubt you know about one of the very famous painters, Sargent at the end of the 18th century. I have seen many of his paintings, but somehow I never came across this one titled 'Madame X'; or maybe I saw it before, briefly, but never knew the intrigue behind it.

In 1882, the ambition of Sargent was to seek success at any cost. So much so that he didn't hesitate to ask his friend of the Castillo to intercede for him with his compatriot Madame Gautreau, one of the renowned beauties of the time in Paris, married to a banker and queen of the high society. The lady graciously accepted and Sargent's painting of her, as expected, raised him to the dizzying height. The work was accepted in 1984 but soon accompanied by a monumental scandal. On the enormous canvas (2 metres) Madame Gautreau appeared with one of her shoulder straps of the figure hugging dress slipped off her shoulder, without a shawl to cover her pearl white bare arm.

Madame G. her mother burst into his house, furious and screaming, demanded Sargent to immediately destroy the painting. "My daughter is finished and her husband has to fight in a dual!" The mother of the lady spat at him. The newspaper published a caricature of the painting and underneath it says 'Laugh of the salon. New model for the Ace of Heart'. Sargent, contrite, had to retrieve the painting before the exhibition date was up, and repainted the picture putting back the shoulder strap.

The following year he moved to London, suggested by Henry James. What had happened? Well unlike the paintings of Manet, the woman was not a model but a reputed society lady, and the pose was considered sexual incitement and gesture. Years later, the Kaiser William fell in love with the lady of the painting. Sargent offered it to the Metropolitan of New York for $3,000 (a fifth part of it's value) and it was exhibited as 'Madame X', as one of his star paintings.

Doesn't it seem so outrageously ridiculous now that a shoulder strap sliding off just a few inches from the shoulder would have cost so much trouble and international scandal, that would mark the rise or fall of a person, altering the fate of a profession, even life?

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