After Major Avegno died of wounds suffered at the Battle of Shiloh, Mrs. Avegno took her daughters to Paris. There Virginie became a celebrated beauty and married a Parisian banker, Pierre Gautreau. Sargent probably met her in 1881. He worked on the portrait in the Gautreaus' summer home in Brittany in 1883 and had difficulty finding both a suitable pose and perspective.
Numerous studies show different attempts at the composition.
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