While Italian artist and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani was undoubtedly a prolific creator over the course of his short lifetime, it has become a rare event that a previously unknown work receives authentication. However, just such a milestone was recently publicly revealed following extensive analysis of a small and enchantingly storied portrait of the artist’s wife held by a private collector.
Born on July 12, 1884, in Livorno, Italy, Modigliani lived a brief but bountiful life defined by phenomenal creative talent but also mired by poverty, illness, and addiction. He married a young and aspiring fellow artist named Jeanne Hébuterne in 1917, who became his muse and the subject of more than twenty paintings in the years before his death on January 24, 1920 in Paris, France at the age of 35.
A portrait of Hébuterne, previously undocumented in public catalogs, was recently authenticated in the Court of Venice, Italy with Judge Dr. Fabio Doro presiding. This followed lengthy analysis conducted by numerous experts, including Professor Paolo Bensi of the University of Genoa; Professor Saverio Simi de Burgis of the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice; Dr. Thierry Radelet, expert in art analysis and restoration; and Professor Paolo Zannini of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
Today, Modigliani is considered one of the significant artists of the 20th century, known for portraits and nudes featuring elongated figures and faces within striking asymmetrical compositions. The newly authenticated portrait provides these signature features and more, depicting his wife in a similarly composed and smaller study that would have likely preceded the portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne held by the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.
Presented on a wooden panel with a thickness of 4mm, the portrait measures 27.5 x 19.2 cm and showcases loose brushwork and wet-into-wet mixing, suggesting a rapidity in execution. X-ray and Infrared examination demonstrated that it was painted over the remnants of a partially removed prior work which was a common practice of Modigliani, aligning with his propensity to create sketches and studies in preparation for major works.
Further supporting the portrait’s analysis, a signed and dated handwritten note from the artist’s friend and art dealer Léopold Zborowski can be seen on the reverse of the wooden panel. It refers to the painting as a sketch by Amedeo Modigliani from 1919 and indicates that it was presented as a gift by Zborowski in Paris, 30 March 1920. The inscription was analyzed and authenticated by graphologist Dr. Milena Bellato in comparison with verified writings of Zborowski.
The chronology of the compounds used in the composition was compared to those available in 1919 and among them, Titanium White, CI Pigment Green 1, and CI Pigment Yellow 3 helped to establish a matching date range.
It was noted that while Titanium White was not widely commercially available in Europe at the time, scientific research on Modigliani’s use of the pigment was published in March 1981 at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, while Italian researchers also recently identified its presence in the work of Modigliani’s colleague and contemporary Pablo Picasso dated to 1909 (Bruni, Maino 2011; Bruni, Maino 2012).
Providing poignant insight into both Modigliani’s creative processes and personal relationships, this portrait adds to the story of an artist whose genius may not have been fully recognized in his lifetime, but whose compositions continue to captivate modern art fans and collectors worldwide, more than a century after his death.
Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne By Amedeo Modigliani – back
