Study of Madame Gautreau

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925)

Tate Collection

circa 1884

This unfinished portrait of Madame Gautreau was acquired by a special arrangement whereby Sir J. Duveen acquired the work and presented it to the nation otherwise it would have been sold to the United States. Duveen was a dealer who frequently sold to American collections but was also a great supporter of the Art Fund. Though the sitter is unidentified, the public was in no doubt that it was Virginie Amélie Gautreau a young Parisian socialite born in Louisiana. This portrait created a scandal through its provocative pose and décolletage and the sitter's reputation for flouting conventional values. Sargent became obsessed with her and painted her - in a style much indebted to Velázquez and Manet - without commission.

• Medium: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 206.4 x 107.9cm
• ArtFunded in: 1925
• Presented by Sir Joseph Duveen through The Art Fund

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