Madame Gautreau Peering over the Top of a Piano

Sargent was preoccupied with the unusual beauty of Virginie Gautreau and convinced her to pose for a portrait in 1883. He considered the resulting portrait, Madame X (16.53), to be “the best thing” he ever did. Sargent made many sketches of Gautreau as he planned the portrait, four of which are in The Met collection (31.43.2; 31.43.3; 50.130.117; 1970.47). This drawing, part of a letter to his friend Albert Millbank, verges on caricature as he captures his sitter with a few quick lines. Gautreau is identifiable, in part, by the small crescent moon hovering above her head, a reference to her signature hair ornament, also shown in the final portrait. Sargent wittily notes that “Mme. Gautreau is at the piano driving all my ideas away.” The artist’s prose, in combination with the drawing, provides important insight into the creation of the portrait, and reveals Sargent’s sense of humor, frustration with the portrait process, as well as his warm relationship with the recipient Albert Millbank.