#madame x portrait
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
resplendentoutfit · 8 months ago
Text
Deathly Pale
The desire of women for ultra-pale skin didn't end with the Elizabethan era. In Victorian times, women still coveted the look of translucent white skin and applied the same causic, poisonous substances to their face, neck, arms and hands. Turbuculosis was a common cause of death in the era. The look of death was considered romantic for its tragic and poetic beauty. Even if a Victorian woman wasn't charmed by death due to turbuculosis, she still coveted pale, translucent skin. Tanned faces were the result of long hours of work out-of- doors, belonging to the lower classes.
“The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.” - Edgar Allan Poe
The two predominant beauty standards were the painted beauty and the natural beauty. The later was the preferred ideal of the average fashionable woman. The methods she employed to achieve good skin and complexion were all in an effort to look natural. The overly painted look was seen as racy - the province of prostitutes and "loose" women.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Upon a well-off Victorian woman's dressing table were arsenic, ammonia, and opium, among other toxic substances. The Ugly-girl Papers, Or, Hints for the Toilet was a book published in 1874 that contained a series of beauty articles for Harper's Bazaar. The author recommends coating the face with opium before bed and a brisk wash with ammonia in the morning. How refreshing.
Lotions containing lead were popular for whitening the skin as well as erasing freckles and other blemishes. Complexion wafers containing arsenic were widely advertised. These products were peddled to women as being harmless when, in fact, they caused headaches, nausea, and even paralysis.
Tumblr media
To achieve eyes with a seductive gaze, Victorian women used Belladonna or Deadly Nightshade in the form of eye drops, which diluted the pupils. Eye irritation and even blindness were reported symptoms of this practice.
A little color over that deathly white facial palor was usually achieved with beet juice and sometimes, animal blood. It's intriguing to wonder how women came into possession of animal blood, though the answer may be as simple as a purchase from a local vendor. Vermillion, also known as red mercury, was used to tint the lips and was known to be poisonous.
Tumblr media
Virginie Gautreau, the subject of the famous John Singer Sargent painting known as Madama X, was not only known to use products to whiten her skin, but was also purported to use indigo dye to paint veins over the ultra-pale veneer of her skin. I haven't found any sound evidence of this, however. What I did read in both The Collector and in an article at minsooki, was that over her arsenic pale skin, Virginie used a lavender powder to counteract the warmth of candlelight.
What's most troubling is that in the face of ample evidence of the health consequences of many of these products, women continued to value the look they provided, over their own health and safety.
References:
• Molly Brown House Museum: Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder: How Victorians Used Common Poisons to Become Drop Dead Gorgeous
• Awful Forever
• Atlas Obscura
• minsooki.com
• The Collector
46 notes · View notes
artist-ellen · 6 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Okay this one is a little silly. Who knew the painting it's a study of without checking? XD
Portrait of Madame X by John Singer Sargent is a scandalous, super famous painting. This was mostly just for fun, running on extreme burnout with more than 10 mermaids to go is a tall order. Aka I tried to cut myself some slack here, pick something quick and uncomplicated.
(In order to finish enough mermaids to fill my self-appointed deadline in time I am not going to be finishing colorized versions of all of them. The amount of time it takes to color and shade just wasn't possible...which means only coloring book owners will get to see some of them until I get inspired to finish them up!)
I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /
https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic
297 notes · View notes
tumblerislovetumblerislife · 2 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Portrait of Mevrautje Inej
inspired by the amazing fic Serves You Right by @linearao3, for all your undercover kanej needs, incl kaz being very into playing inej's servant ;)
178 notes · View notes
holmes-ja · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
I did this for purely academic reasons and definitely not because I have been thinking about Good Omens non-stop. Or that I just think this look would really suit Crowley.
888 notes · View notes
weltonboys · 2 years ago
Text
Tumblr media
madame x - john singer sargent
919 notes · View notes
boppunkgreg · 9 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau)
John Singer Sargent (American, Florence 1856–1925 London) (1856 - 1925)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
122 notes · View notes
fritz-on-a-blitz · 29 days ago
Text
Tumblr media
Messing with paint brushes pt 2
'Portrait of Madame X', John Singer Sargent (1883-1884)
Also painted the very very scandalous strap the scandalous way it was supposed to stay. I mean that's how it was painted originally ┐⁠(⁠ ���˘⁠_⁠˘⁠)⁠┌
✨ Commissions open! ✨
24 notes · View notes
chic-a-gigot · 5 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Les Modes : revue mensuelle illustrée des arts décoratifs appliqués à la femme, no. 19, vol. 2, juillet 1902, Paris. Helleu. — Portrait de Mme X… (Pointe sèche). Bibliothèque nationale de France
33 notes · View notes
florsial · 1 year ago
Text
Hear me out yall.
Jegulus Madame X painting story Au.
James is a famous painter who desperately wants to paint Regulus Black who is the heir to the Black Family fortune and known for his good looks, common within the Black family. But Regulus refuses every time until he finally agrees. Throughout the process of painting, James and Regulus fall in love. However, when James releases the painting named, "Heir X", scandal falls upon Regulus because of the way it was painted and he is forced to retire somewhere private until his reputation recovers, he does so, but doesn't tell James. Who ends up hunting him down they reconcile and yay everyone is happy.
I wanna write this
78 notes · View notes
sacredcyber · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
Sargent study but make it blorbo related
58 notes · View notes
vicanvas · 1 month ago
Text
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
Do you ever paint yourself an oc insterted into a classical painting and go "yeah, I want it on my wall"? Redbubble, I'm coming.
5 notes · View notes
the-cricket-chirps · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
John Singer Sargent, Portrait of Madame X, 1884
John Singer Sargent, Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1888
35 notes · View notes
sugaryhoneymoon · 10 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
FINALLY SAW HER IN REAL LIFE AND SHE’S SOMEHOW EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL
17 notes · View notes
emsartwork · 2 years ago
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Madame X-Files
Master copy of John Singer Sargent’s Portrait of Madame X but with Dana Scully instead 
81 notes · View notes
lovisonnn · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
One of the sketches for Portrait of Madame X by John Singer Sargent
9 notes · View notes
cookiescr · 2 years ago
Text
My girlfriend is so pretty… unrelated question do any of you have any favorite classical painting of a beautiful woman please and thank you
20 notes · View notes