I AM MADAME X

Madame X, the figure in John Singer Sargent’s unforgettable Belle Epoque portrait of a Paris beauty, was Louisiana-born Virginie Gautreau. Anyone who has seen the painting has wondered about her (and wondered why Sargent never attached her real name to the picture), but a scarcity of detail about Gautreau has mostly confounded the curious. Biographer Gioia Diliberto has created a satisfying solution to the problem in this inventive and persuasive imagining of Gautreau’s story. Lorna Raver is sensational as the throaty, world-weary Virginie, looking back over her life and loves (there were quite a few), and especially vividly recounting the making of the famous painting, the scandal it caused, and the aftereffects of the celebrity it created. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 04]