Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38977354

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginie_Am%C3%A9lie_Avegno_Gautreau

Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau (29 January 1859– 1915), a Parisian socialite, artists' model and an American expatriate. She is perhaps most widely known as the subject of John Singer Sargent's painting Portrait of Madame X.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 29 January 1859, the daughter of a wealthy French Creole family. She and her mother moved to France when she was 8 years old where they quickly ensconced themselves in the highest echelons of French society.

A pale-skinned brunette with fine, cameo-like features and an hourglass figure, Virginie became one of Paris's most conspicuous beauties. To enhance her ivory complexion Gautreau wore lavender-colored face and body powder. She was known to dye her hair with henna and pencil in her eyebrows. She also attracted much admiration due to her elegance and chic avant-garde style. She married a French banker Pierre Gautreau but that did not prevent her seeking the company of other men. Subsequently she became notorious for her numerous infidelities.

She posed for paintings by several noted 19th-century painters, including Gustave Courtois and Antonio de La Gandara, and most famously was the model for John Singer Sargent's " Portrait of Madame X," which created a cultural scandal when it was exhibited in 1884 at the Paris Salon. The scandal caused Virginie to retire from society.