AUDIOBOOK
About
Madame X, John Singer Sargent's most famous and scandalous portrait, caused an immediate furor when Sargent unveiled it at the 1884 Paris Salon.
The subject's bold pose, provocative dress, and decadent pallor shocked the public, and the critics panned the picture, smashing Sargent's dream of a Paris career.
Even before Sargent painted her portrait, Virginie Gautreau's reputation for promiscuity and showy self-display made her the subject of vicious Paris gossip.
In this remarkable novel, the author tells Virginie's story, drawing on the sketchy facts of the notorious beauty's life to recreate her tempestuous personality, the captivating milieu of Belle Epoch Paris, and the struggle between artist and model to control the painting that would change their lives and affect the course of art history.
"Diliberto fills in the blanks of Virginie's life with vivid brush strokes...[a] handsomely imagined story."
"A romping good read."
"Her novelistic portrait of a real person turns out to have more psychological truth than many a biography."
"Lorna Raver is sensational as the throaty, world-weary Virginie, looking back over her life and loves (there were quite a few), and especially vividly recounting the making of the famous painting…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
"This fast scroll through
history…against a backdrop of parties, salons, operas, artists' studios, and
sexual escapades is inviting for its wealth of well-researched period details."
"Diliberto has created a heroine who is as capricious and vain and as compelling and seductive as [Sargent's] portrait suggests."
"Diliberto's writing brings Virginie to life…creating a complex woman who recognizes that her beauty is her most precious commodity…Highly recommended."
The subject's bold pose, provocative dress, and decadent pallor shocked the public, and the critics panned the picture, smashing Sargent's dream of a Paris career.
Even before Sargent painted her portrait, Virginie Gautreau's reputation for promiscuity and showy self-display made her the subject of vicious Paris gossip.
In this remarkable novel, the author tells Virginie's story, drawing on the sketchy facts of the notorious beauty's life to recreate her tempestuous personality, the captivating milieu of Belle Epoch Paris, and the struggle between artist and model to control the painting that would change their lives and affect the course of art history.
"Diliberto fills in the blanks of Virginie's life with vivid brush strokes...[a] handsomely imagined story."
"A romping good read."
"Her novelistic portrait of a real person turns out to have more psychological truth than many a biography."
"Lorna Raver is sensational as the throaty, world-weary Virginie, looking back over her life and loves (there were quite a few), and especially vividly recounting the making of the famous painting…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
"This fast scroll through
history…against a backdrop of parties, salons, operas, artists' studios, and
sexual escapades is inviting for its wealth of well-researched period details."
"Diliberto has created a heroine who is as capricious and vain and as compelling and seductive as [Sargent's] portrait suggests."
"Diliberto's writing brings Virginie to life…creating a complex woman who recognizes that her beauty is her most precious commodity…Highly recommended."