Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau
Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau (29 January 1859- 1915) was a Paris socialite.
Virginie Amélie Gautreau was 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. Her father Anatole Avegno had been killed in the Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War five years previously.
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 also attracted much admiration due to her elegance and chic avante-garde style.
She posed for paintings by several noted 19th-century painters, most famously for John Singer Sargent's " Portrait of Madame X," which created a cultural scandal when it was exhibited.
Her and Sargent's intertwined stories are the subject of Strapless by Deborah Davis (Tarcher Penguin 2004).
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