I Am Madame X: A Novel

(Paperback)

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In 1884, renowned painter John Singer Sargent unveiled his portrait of the notorious beauty Virginie Gautreau at the Paris Salon. Virginie's bold pose, provocative dress, and icy pale skin caused an immediate furore. Panned by the critics and abhorred by the public, the painting crippled Sargent's hopes of a career in Paris. He soon relocated to England, where he established himself as the favourite portrait painter of the wealthy. In this remarkable novel, Diliberto tells Virginie's story, drawing on the sketchy facts of her life to recreate her personality and the milieu of nineteenth century Paris. Born in New Orleans and raised on her grandmother's Creole plantation, Virginie fled to France with her mother and sister during the Civil War. After a troubled adolescence, she became a professional beauty and married a prominent French banker. Even before Sargent painted her portrait, Virginie's reputation for promiscuity and showy self-display made her the subject of Paris gossip.

Reviews

Los Angeles Times Diliberto fills in the blanks of Virginie's life with vivid brush strokes. What ensues is a complex and often incredibly fun portrait...[a] handsomely imagined story.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune Diliberto does not make the mistake of imagining a coherent biographical trajectory for her protagonist, but instead presents the messiness and difficulty of real life. In other words, her novelistic portrait of a real person turns out to have more psychological truth than many a biography.
Booklist Lively and provocative...Diliberto has created a heroine who is as capricious and vain and as compelling and seductive as [Sargent's] portrait suggests.
Chicago Tribune a Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2003 A romping good read.

Author Bio

Gioia Dilibertohas written biographies of Jane Addams, Hadley Hemingway, and Brenda Frazier, as well as the critically acclaimed novelsI Am Madame X andThe Collection. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.