What John Singer Sargent Saw The New York Times The Story Behind 'The Met's Mona Lisa' Portrait of a Lady in Black by Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell National Galleries of Scotland Madame X (1884), John Singer Sargent's famed painting of a woman in a stunning black dress, is today considered an iconic work of American art, even though its origins actually lie in Madame X (1884), John Singer Sargent's famed painting of a woman in a stunning black dress, is today considered an iconic work of American art, even though its origins actually lie in Why John Singer Sargent's 1884 painting, Madame X, scandalized Paris