Reworked plot

A painter gets caught in a mob war and he must choose between an old friend and his masterpiece.

Want more detail? Read on...

It's Belle Epoque Paris and two criminal families are feuding. Sargent intends to paint a portrait of the arrogant Madame Gautreau, but he doesn't know her family is the Parisian mafia (hahahaha French mafia hahahaha!). At a dinner party, Sargent saves them from a bomb he soon discovers was thrown by a childhood Venetian friend. The friend and Sargent plot to ruin the Gautreau family but Sargent falls in love with Amelie while painting the portrait at her country house near the sea. He has to paint it in time to win the next Salon, and he has to save Amelie before his friend suspects him of the double-cross, and at the final climax he has to make the final self-sacrificing move before the tide comes in.

John Singer Sargent: Secret Agent

Re Re RE worked the story idea. Trying to appeal to my husband (my muse).

The Dramatis Personae:
John Singer Sargent

A 9 out of 10 on the gorgeousness scale. Dresses immaculately. Not only a talented painter, but a hard worker. He's a brilliant strategist. He understands how to read the emotions that play across a person's face and capture them in paint. He's an expatriot who spent his childhood travelling around Europe so he speaks four languages without an accent. His loyalty to his country and his extraordinary gifts catch the eye of the U.S. Secret Service (at the time their main task was investigating counterfeiting). So he's kind of a proto-CIA agent. At the time this story takes place, he has been living in Paris for ten years and is a rising star in the art world hoping to take top prize in the upcoming Salon (the cultural event of the year).

Amelie Gautreau (Madame X)

Spoiled daughter of a Creole family who may or may not have stolen a wagon load of gold in the last days of the Civil War. She is a professional beauty who married Pierre Gautreau ostensibly for his money. Her great goal in life is to scale the heights of European society and plumb the depths of sexual taboos. Above is the painting Sargent did of her.


Sargent is assigned to investigate the missing Confederate gold. To do this, he infiltrates the Gautreau household as a portrait painter. After arousing the lustful vengeance of Amelie and the suspicion of Pierre, Sargent gets some bad information that leads him to the Gautreau bank (which is a trap). He prepares to rob the bank, aided by Tesla, and while casing the joint, discovers a counterfeiting gang operating out of the bank. As he trails one of the gang members, he gets beaten or shot or something and seriously wounded. How does it end? He breaks into the bank, realizes the gold is gone and he’s trapped. Okay, I know how it ends, but I can't just TELL you that? I've got to show you.

Re-worked the story idea: here are some pictures!

Here's the new one-line synopsis: A lonely society wife tries to win her husband's love by commissioning a portrait.

Here's where she lives: Lochnaw Castle in Scotland (it's in the lowlands on its own private little loch surrounded by woodlands. There's a ruined medieval castle on a small island in the middle of the lake. What that has to do with the story? Nothing, it's just cool.)

Here's the portrait:

Here are more details on the plot:
It is Scotland in the Gilded Age. The aristocracy and the empire are in decline. Gertrude Vernon made a brilliant match socially, but she and her husband deal with their grief over their childlessness separately. Not accounted any great beauty, she tries to improve her taste and culture, and decides to commission a portrait of herself and her husband in the hopes of bringing them together.John Singer Sargent, the most popular portraitist on either side of the Atlantic, arrives at the estate to do the painting but finds her alone due to some totally believable plot twist :P This leaves Sargent and Gertrude alone for hours and they end up falling in love. Her husband finally returns and he and Gertrude see each other with new eyes, and she must decide between her ideals and her impulses.