NARRATOR: John Singer Sargent submitted this portrait to the Paris Salon of 1884. Though the sitter was not identified, everyone recognized it as Virginie Gautreau.

STEPHANIE HERDRICH: Virginie Gautreau was a notable society celebrity in Paris. And Sargent was fascinated with her.

She was known for her beauty, for her beautiful couture gowns, her elaborate cosmetic regimen. She just cut this very distinctive and striking figure in Paris.

NARRATOR: Sargent labored assiduously to capture her signature lavender-toned skin, rouged ears, unique profile, and signature look. But the public responded with hostility. The reaction was so extreme, Sargent would subsequently refer to it as “the Gautreau disaster,” even as he defended his work.

Years later he maintained that it was, “the best thing I have done.”

HERDRICH: They were shocked by her skin tone, her cosmetics, the way that Sargent represented her.

NARRATOR: Some thought that the portrait was unflattering. They were shocked as well by her low-cut dress—with one strap originally shown slipping down her shoulder in a state of undress. But the scandal went deeper than that.

HERDRICH: The crux of this was a combination of how Sargent portrayed her but also who she was in Paris.

She was considered an American and someone who really was infiltrating society and had this bold way of presenting herself. She was famous because of her beauty—a woman who used her appearance to gain fame and celebrity.

ELIZABETH COLOMBA: And maybe that’s why they didn’t want to see. They didn’t want to see the superficiality of Parisian society.

It’s Virginie Gautreau—it’s her. But it’s also a representation of Paris society at the time, which means the vanity, the superficiality. She’s almost an icon, a representation of what was society.