NUDE ON A WHITE CUSHION BY AMEDEO MODIGLIANI
Image Courtesy of Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Pfannstiel Lanthemann Ceroni J. Modigliani Parisot Patani Restellini Wayne
Nº 145 Nº 154 Nº 196 YES 35/1917 Nº 202 YES YES?
Date 1917
Title Reclining nude on a white pillow - Reclining nude on white cushion - Nude - Reclining nude on red couch - Reclining Nude
Materials Oil on canvas
Size 60.6 x 92.7 cm
Signature: Signed "modigliani." top right in red
Actual Location Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Deutschland (Inv. Nº 2560)
Provenance -?-
Léopold Zborowski, Paris
Galerie Weill, Paris (1917)
Léopold Zborowski, Paris (Sold 1929)
?
Baixeras Collection, Paris (Acquired 1929)
Monteux Collection, Paris (by 1930)
Sale: Hotel Drouot, Paris, 3 - June- 1937 - Lot nº 17
?
Private Collection, Oslo (1958)
?
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Deutschland (Inv. Nº 2560)
Acquired by the Staatsgalerie in 1959 (with lottery funds)
?

In process

Bibliography -?-

Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, Gemälde von Modigliani, Verlagsanstalt Alexander Koch, XXVIII - July 1925 , p. 209
Vlaminck, Modigliani, L' Art Vivant, November 1925
Salmon, Modigliani, sa vie et son oeuvre,Ed. des Quatres Chemins, Paris, 1926, pl. 7
Pfannstiel, "catalogue presume" Modigliani. L'Art et la Vie. Preface de Louis Latourrettes, Seheur, Paris, 1929, p. 24
San Lazzaro, Modigliani peintures, Les Éditions du Chêne, Paris, 1947, pl. 4
San Lazzaro, Modigliani peintures, Les Éditions du Chêne, Paris, 1953, pl. 46
Pfannstiel, Modigliani et son oeuvre, etude critique et catalogue raisonne, bibliotheque des arts, Paris, 1956 - nº 145
Ceroni, Amedeo Modigliani : dessins et sculptures ; avec suite du catalogue illustre des peintures, Edizioni del Milione, Milano, 1965 - nº 199
Lanthemann, Modigliani, catalogue raisonné: sa vie, son oeuvre, son art, G. Condal, Barcelona, 1970 - nº 154 (dated in 1916)
Ceroni & Piccioni, Il dipinti di Modigliani, Rizzoli, Milano, 1970 - nº 196
Mann, Modigliani, Thames and Hudson, London, 1980, p. 141
Zurcher, Modigliani, Ed. F. Hazan, Paris, 1980 - nº 49
Hall, Modigliani, Phaidon, Oxford, 1984 - nº 36
Modigliani J. Racconta Modigliani, Ed. Graphis. 1984, p. 109
Castieau-Barrielle, Modigliani, ACR Editions, Paris, 1987, p. 180
Parisot, Modigliani, Graphis Arte, 1988, p. 155
Angela Ceroni, Les nus, Biblioteque des Arts, Paris, 1989, p. 79
Schmalenbach, Amedeo Modigliani, Prestel, Munich, 1990, p. 112 - nº 61
Parisot, Catalogue Raisonee Modigliani, Graphis Arte, 1991 - 35/1917
Patani, Catalogo Generale, Leonardo, Milano, 1991-94 - nº 202
Parisot, Modigliani, Pierre Terrail, Paris, 1992, p. 115
Kruszynski. Amedeo Modigliani: Portraits and Nudes. Munich, 1996, p. 98
Krystof, Amedeo Modigliani: The Poetry of Seeing, Taschen, Cologne, 2000 (cover), pp.72-73
Klein, Modigliani: Beyond the Myth, The Jewish Museum, 2004-2005, pl. 9, p. 62
Fraquelli, Modigliani and His Models. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 2006, p. 43 - nº 18 as reclining nude on red couch, pp. 96-97
Soto Caba, Modigliani, The timeless face, Libsa, Madrid, 2007
Conzen, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart - Die Sammlung. Meisterwerke vom 14. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert, München / Stuttgart 2008, p. 211 - nº 146
Ireson, Fraquelli, Modigliani, London, Tate Modern, Skira Rizzoli, London, 2017, p. 138-139

In process

Exhibitions -?-

Paris, Modigliani , Berthe Weill Gallery, 1917
Venezia, Mostra retrospettiva di Modigliani – Curated by Lionello Venturi - Biennale di Venezia , Sala XII degli Appels d'Italie, 1930 - nº 30
Paris, Modigliani retrospective, Marcel Bernheim (Galerie Bernheim-Jeune), 1931 - nº 11
Paris, Modigliani Peintures, Galerie de France, 1945-46 - nº 12
Paris, Cent Tableaux de Modigliani, Galerie Charpentier, 1958 - nº 40
Düsseldorf, Amedeo Modigliani: Malerei, Skulpturen, Zeichnungen, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 1991 - nº 57
Zurich, Amedeo Modigliani: Malerei, Skulpturen, Zeichnungen, Kunsthaus, 1991 - nº 57
London, Modigliani and his models, Royal Academy of Arts, 2006 - nº 18
Moscow, Meeting Modigliani, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 2007
Madrid, Modigliani y su tiempo, Museo Nacional Thyssen Bornemisza, 2008
Bonn, Amedeo Modigliani: Ein Mythos der Moderne, Bundesrepublik, 2009 - nº 89
London, Modigliani, Tate Modern, 2017-2018

In process

Other Nº 240 in D' Atri papers dated 1917

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The painting at the Venice Biennale in 1930:

The painting at the Venice Biennale in 1930

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The painting framed at the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart:

The painting framed at the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

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The painting framed London, Modigliani, Tate Gallery, 2017:

The painting framed London, Modigliani, Tate Gallery, 2017


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Detail of signature in visible normal light:
NUDE SIGNATURE DETAIL


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The eyes of this painting reflect a style Modigliani used from the end of 1915 to the first months of 1918, very similar eye construction can be
seen in many Modigliani works from this period:

eyes
eye detail

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This painting presents holes in 3 corners, probably the other hole is covered by restoration.

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Painting is covered with a high glossy varnish layer, done by the artist, it is recorded in several sources that Modigliani wanted to imitate the feel & texture of
the old masters, a modern Titian, so he varnished his painting to achieve a similar glossy craquelure of the surface (also some of the newest studies have
discovered some other were varnished later).

This is one of the main reasons to avoid strong cleaning in the Modigliani nudes, first because they lost the red/orange (red lake) veils mixed with the varnish.

I have no information of any cleaning procedure in this case, but the surface seems to be clean and the painting when live maintain the reds in perfect
shape (many known photos adjust the red surface to a more softer orange or almost pink in photographic effects).


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This painting was part of the Modigliani technical research study in 2018

Extract from:
The Modigliani technical research study "Modigliani's painted Nudes 1916- 17
Burnstock, Duvernois, Stringari
Burlington Magazine - April 2018

Modigliani employed a consistent and limited range of pigments for painting the nudes, including lead white with a low proportion of zinc, vermilion red, an organic red lake pigment,
iron oxide-containing pigments including sienna, ochre and umber-coloured ones, Prussian blue, French ultramarine, calcium phosphate (bone) black and viridian green. There are
consistencies in the combinations of pigments for flesh; these include a mixture of white with vermilion and a separate application of a transparent red lake.

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In resume the main identified colors/pigments in Modigliani's nudes (and this means all the 1916-17 nudes) are:

1.- Lead White with a low proportion of zinc.
2.- Vermilion red
3.- Organic red lake
4.- Sienna
5.- Ochre
6.- Umber-coloured ones
7.- Prussian blue
8.- French ultramarine
9.- Bone black
10.- Viridian green

This does not means that a painting has to present the 10 pigments, this are the pigments found in all the analyzed nudes:
Example:

- "Nude 1" have Prussian blue but not the French Ultramarine (both are blues)
- "Nude 2" have French Ultramarine but no Prussian Blue
- "Nude 3" have Sienna
- "Nude 4" have Ochre
and so on.

colors1
There is no need that the same painting have all the 10 detected, you can achieve the same effect using just one blue instead of the two detected.

Mix, Vermilion red + Sienna and you have the perfect orange skin in Modigliani from 1914 to 1917-18
Mix Vermilion + Sienna + White and you have the perfect pink skin in Modigliani from 1917-8 to 1919

General Museum technical studies have reached the conclusion that is a very short palette, a simple range made with pre industrial oils (non artisan, but small scale industrial oils).





  This page is a work on progress, nothing in this page should be considered as final or definitive.