Did this painting provide the model for the dress Marian Brook wore to the ball in the season finale of Julian Fellowes’ “The Gilded Age”? John Singer Sargent painted the portrait, “Madame Paul Poirson,” in 1885. It is in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Madame Poirson, born Seymourina Cuthbertson, was the wife of a man from whom Sargent rented a studio in Paris. According to Poirson family lore, Sargent created the painting in lieu of rent payment! The costumes in HBO’s “The Gilded Age” are a delight, and what fun it is to have found a historical precedent for one of them. #NewportMansions #gildedagemansion #gildedagemansions #gildedagehbo #gilded #Breakers #MarbleHouse