![]() With her copper-colored hair, perfect figure and unique style, young Virginie Amélie was soon the center of it all.īy the 1880s Sargent was an established painter, having exhibited with distinction in the Paris Salons since 1877. Haussmann's work was monumental, creating the Paris we know today: grand buildings, wide boulevards, large parks. Virginie Amélie Avegno, the daughter of a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner, and her mother arrived in Paris just as Baron Haussmann was putting the final touches on his renovation of the city. In any event, the story of Sargent's famous painting is absorbing, and Davis has sleuthed out some important information about the beautiful woman in the black dress. ![]() Much of this may have to do with the book's focus, which is on social history rather art scholarship.ĭavis admits to a lack of formal schooling in art history, and this honesty is commendable, but it has the effect of making her conclusions sound at times like the skillful rephrasings of experts' words. ![]() Davis obviously has done a great deal of research and travel, but the result still feels like a skim across the surface. The book's pace is lively and its breadth impressive, but what it lacks is depth. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |