Who Was John Singer Sargent’s High Society Parisian Muse Madame X?
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Top image by Annie Leibovitz in her Vogue August 2025 fashion story about Sarah Burton’s new Givenchy collection. Bottom image via Alamy at the Tate Museum London
Who Was John Singer Sargent’s Parisian Muse Madame X? AOC New Humanism
American expatriate artist John Singer Sargent's officially titled "Portrait of Madame X," is one of the most renowned and scandalous artworks of the 19th century. Painted in 1884, it captures the striking visage of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, a Parisian socialite known for her unconventional beauty and daring fashion sense.
The painting ‘Madame X’ appears in American Vogue’s August 2025 cover story featuring Anne Hathaway. Shot by Annie Leibovitz [IG], the all-Givenchy fashion story honors Sarah Burton’s first collection as the new creative director. Stylist Tabitha Simmons mentioned that in the image of Hathaway standing near ‘Madame X’ at the Metropolitan Museum, the loose strap on her Givenchy ensemble was attached to the history of the mysterious American.
Telling the story of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, a Parisian socialite of Louisiana Creole origins, known for her unconventional beauty and daring fashion sense, is one of many narratives we’re exploring together in 2026.
The alliance did not end well for Gautreau, known famously as Madame X. The Louisiana-born Creole maverick took a blinding fall from favor, after posing for the painter John Singer Sargent and collaborating fully in the creation of his Madame X masterpiece, now owned by The Metropolitan Museum in New York City.
The Real American Story Is Creole
The minute AOC read the word ‘Creole’ to describe the ancestry of Sargent’s muse, Anne stopped to consider Madame Gautreau’s background within the context of new Pope Leo XIV’s own lineage.
Several articles about the new American Pope Leo’s family history, as researched by the New York Times in May and June 2025, reveal the new pontiff to be a reflection of the larger, global human community that has defined America since the founding of the nation.
Anne of Carversville is launching several new initiatives in 2026. Under the umbrella of LVMH and Louis Vuitton Men — under both Virgil Abloh and now Pharrell Williams — AOC has already shed major light on the French-American alliance in world history.
We are busy organizing that content to make it more available to AOC lovers in a single, easy-to-navigate digital place.
Pharrell Williams, in particular, has created stunning musical events connected to the Vatican. In Paris to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in December 2024, Pharrell was in charge of all the music.
In September 2025, Pharrell also co-hosted with Maestro Andrea Bocelli the ‘Grace for the World’ concert in St. Peter’s Square and —yes, the men were all dressed in Louis Vuitton Men black suits elegance.
The first-ever outdoor mega concert caused copious tears to be shed by American activists dedicated to the civil rights movement. Many of us were online together when John Legend sang ‘Glory’ in this most beautiful scene on a most beautiful night in Rome: September 13, 2025. ~ Anne