Nude on a garden

Identification

Title

English: Nude on a garden - Standing nude on a garden - caryatid on the balcony - red caryatid on the garden.
Notes: Nudo in piedi, su fondo di giardino (Ceroni); Nude in a Garden (Tate Papers); Standing nude on a garden (Ceroni list of numbers); Nude on a garden – Standing nude on a garden – caryatid on the balcony – red caryatid on the garden (others).

Date

1913 (Ceroni, Tate Papers)

Medium

Oil on cardboard?
Notes: Ceroni (oil on canvas); MR (oil on wood)

Dimensions

81 × 50 cm (Ceroni)

Signature

Signed "modigliani" lower right

Present location

Private Coll. Italy (Torino)

Catalogue numbers

Legal note on MR: This investigation has not had access to MR’s catalogue raisonné; all research here is based on open sources, publications and exhibitions. By no means has that catalogue been copied at any point. Modigliani Project and Modigliani Initiative are marked YES when the work is published or otherwise recorded by those projects, even if no catalogue number is assigned; otherwise the field is marked ?.

Provenance

Unknown.

The sequence follows the published museum, sale, and catalogue record in this investigation. Gaps and uncertain transfers are marked as such.

Selected bibliography

Book-length publications are marked with a footnote giving a full citation. Exhibition catalogues appear in both this list and the exhibition list when this investigation recorded them in both places.

• MR, L'Ange au visage grave, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, 2002, p.150-151, no. 16¹
• Soto Caba, Modigliani, the timeless face, Libsa, 2007²
• MR, Le silence éternel, Pinacotheque de Paris, 2008, p.33³

Exhibitions

• MR, L'Ange au visage grave, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, 2002, no. 16

Notes

Not in D' Atri papers

Where sources disagree, both readings are given. This is a working research page, not a catalogue raisonné.

Introduction

A naked woman, painted in a flat, bright vermilion-red, stands frontally in the middle of a garden. Her arms hang a little away from her body, with the forearms held out and the hands open, palms down, over two yellow vessels shaped like horns or urns. Her head is small and oval, with the hair drawn up into a cap. The eyes are closed almonds, the brows join the long nose, and the mouth is tiny. A necklace of dots runs round the base of the neck. The breasts are small, with dot nipples. The navel and the line of the groin are drawn. The legs are long and taper to the bottom edge, where the feet are cut off. Behind her is a pale cream ground, and on it the elements of a garden: dark green and blue palm fronds at the upper left and right, masses of red flowers at the middle left and right, and blue vertical posts at the bottom, like the balusters of a terrace or balcony. In the lower right corner is the signature "modigliani".
Ceroni catalogued the work as no. 39, Nudo in piedi, su fondo di giardino ("standing nude on a garden background"), dated 1913 and in a private collection in Turin. The Tate Papers list it, with the same date and location, as the last of "a series of nude caryatid-like figures inspired by Egyptian, Greek and Cambodian art (C32–39)". It is the least documented of these eight works: the Secret Modigliani page cites only three publications and one exhibition, and I found no museum, auction or technical source that discusses it. This essay therefore rests mainly on what can be seen in the reproduction on the Secret Modigliani page, and on comparisons with the other caryatid paintings.

Composition and format

The proportions of the reproduction (about 0.62) match the dimensions given on the Secret Modigliani page, 81 × 50 cm, marked with a question mark. The format is narrower than a standard French no. 25 marine (81 × 54 cm) and wider than the unusual 81 × 45.5 cm of C36, C37 and C40. Without examination it cannot be known whether the support has been cut, or whether it is a non-standard board, as the Secret Modigliani page's "oil on cardboard?" would suggest.
The figure occupies the central vertical third. Its head is close to the top edge and its legs run off the bottom. Unlike the caryatids C36 and C37, whose hands touch the top edge, this figure has her arms lowered. She does not carry a weight; instead, her hands seem to rest on, or hover over, the two yellow vessels at either side of her hips. The composition is symmetrical: palm fronds at upper left and right, red flowers at middle left and right, blue posts at bottom left and right, and a yellow vessel at each hand. The symmetry is not mechanical, since the palms on the right are larger and the red flowers on the right lie lower, but it gives the picture a heraldic, almost emblematic order.
The background is therefore not a niche, as in C36 and C37, but a setting. Ceroni's title, "su fondo di giardino", and the Secret Modigliani page's alternative "caryatid on the balcony" both describe it. The blue posts at the bottom and a pale horizontal band behind them suggest a balustrade, with the garden beyond. The figure stands in front of the balustrade, and the yellow vessels may be ornamental urns on its top.

Line

The figure is drawn with a dark contour, firm along the outer edges of the arms, torso and legs, and finer inside the figure. The face is drawn in very few lines: the double arcs of the brows continue into the nose, as in C38; the eyes are closed almonds; the mouth is a small mark. The hair is a high cap, with a line across the forehead. The breasts are small circles with dots, the navel is a short line and the groin is a V. The hands are drawn with spread fingers.
The garden is not drawn but painted: the palms, the flowers and the posts are made of broad patches of colour without contour. The contrast between the drawn figure and the painted setting is the main formal idea of the picture. The figure, enclosed by its contour, looks like a statue placed in a garden; the garden is loose and unfinished around it.

Colour

The figure is a single, saturated vermilion-red, without modelling except for slight darkening along the contours. It is the hottest and flattest red among Ceroni's caryatid paintings. The Busto rosso (C38) is orange-red, and the Aichi caryatid (C36) is orange-red with cream modelling. Here, the red stands against a cream ground and is surrounded by its complementaries: the dark greens and blues of the palms and the blues of the posts. The red flowers repeat the colour of the figure, and the yellow vessels give a third primary. The whole picture is built on red, blue and yellow, with green and cream.
The Secret Modigliani page's alternative title, "red caryatid on the garden", reflects this.

Facture

The paint is thin and fluid. In the background, the palm fronds are made of long, curved brushstrokes of dark green and blue, the flowers of dabbed patches of red, and the posts of vertical strokes of blue. Much of the cream ground is left visible, and in places the paint is so thin that the support shows through. At the left edge there is a vertical line that may be a crack, a fold or an edge of the support. The figure is painted more densely, with even strokes. The overall effect is that of a sketch with a finished figure, or of a decoration painted quickly on a light ground.

Figure and space

The space is shallow. The figure stands in front of the balustrade, the urns are at her sides and the garden is behind. But there is no perspective, no floor and no shadow: the figure is flat and frontal, and the garden is a flat pattern around it. The figure is not a woman in a garden as much as an image of a statue placed in front of a decorative background.
The pose is different from the standing caryatids. The arms are lowered and spread, with the palms open and turned downwards. In the drawings of caryatids, Modigliani often places the hands on the head or raises the arms. The lowered arms here resemble rather the gesture of a figure making an offering or receiving one, or simply resting the hands on the vessels. I cannot identify a specific source for the gesture, and I prefer not to propose one.

Iconography and models

The Tate Papers group the work with C32–C38 as "caryatid-like figures inspired by Egyptian, Greek and Cambodian art", and refer the reader to "comparative works by Egyptian, African and Cambodian artists" in Thierry Dufrêne's Modigliani (Paris, 2020), pp. 77–87, which I have not seen. The closed eyes, the joined brows and nose, the small mouth and the necklace of dots are the same features as in the other caryatids and in the stone heads. The Jewish Museum's 2017–18 exhibition text speaks of "elements derived from ancient South and Southeast Asian sources: facial features, postures, tattoos, and other ornamental details". The tall cap of hair and the necklace may belong to that repertoire.
The garden setting has no parallel among Ceroni's caryatid paintings. The palms suggest an exotic or southern garden, perhaps the gardens of a Mediterranean villa or a decorative screen. Whether Modigliani was thinking of a real place, of a temple garden or of an imaginary paradise cannot be known. The title used on the Secret Modigliani page, "caryatid on the balcony", suggests that the figure stands on a terrace, as the posts at the bottom suggest.
The signature "modigliani" in the lower right is worth noting. None of the other caryatid paintings in this batch is signed, according to the Secret Modigliani pages on those works. A signature may indicate that Modigliani considered the work finished and saleable, or it may have been added later. Without examination it cannot be known.

Comparisons

C36 and C37, standing caryatids. The pose of the standing caryatids, with raised arms, supports an imagined load. The present figure has lowered arms and does not support anything. The caryatids stand in a dark niche; this figure stands in a light garden. The present work is closer to a decorative panel than to a study for sculpture.
C38, Busto rosso. The head of the present figure, with its joined brows and nose and its closed eyes, is a smaller version of the head of the Busto rosso*. Both are red. But the bust is set against a dark ground with a blue aura, while this figure is set against a light, colourful garden.
The Red Caryatid – balcony caryatid (Secret Modigliani works/67). The Secret Modigliani site has a page on a different painting called "Red Caryatid – balcony caryatid – Cariatide Rossa", 80 × 58.5 cm, said to be in a private collection in San Francisco. It is not in Ceroni. According to the Secret Modigliani page on that work, it was shown at Genoa in 2017 and seized by the police, and a technical report by Prof. Isabella Quattrocchi concluded that it "was not original", noting "polyurethanes, titanium white and other synthetic pigments". The alternative titles on the page for C39, "caryatid on the balcony" and "red caryatid on the garden", are close to the title of this other work. Anyone searching for the Turin painting should take care not to confuse the two. I have not compared the images in detail and do not express an opinion on works/67

Provenance and exhibitions

No provenance known. The provenance field reads "No exhibitions were listed in this investigation", which appears to be a slip, since it is in the provenance field and an exhibition is listed below. Ceroni (1970) gives "Torino, proprietà privata", and the Tate Papers say "private collection, Turin". So the work seems to have been in the same city, and possibly the same collection, for more than fifty years. But I found no confirmation.
The only exhibition listed is Modigliani: l'ange au visage grave, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, 2002, no. 16. The bibliography lists that catalogue (pp. 150–51, no. 16), Soto Caba (2007) and Le silence éternel, Pinacothèque de Paris (2008), p. 33. The Pinacothèque book appears in the bibliography but not in the list of exhibitions. The page also notes "Not in D'Atri papers".

Discrepancies

1. Medium. "oil on cardboard?", Ceroni "oil on canvas" and MR "oil on wood", according to the Secret Modigliani page. Three different supports have therefore been proposed. None is supported by a published examination.
2. Provenance. The provenance is unknown.
3. Titles. The alternative titles "caryatid on the balcony" and "red caryatid on the garden" resemble the title of a different, non-Ceroni work on the same site (works/67).
4. Catalogue numbers. The work is absent from Pfannstiel, Lanthemann and Patani and its status in Parisot is marked "?". Ceroni and MR (the 2002 Luxembourg catalogue) are its main published sources.

Technical analysis

No technical study of this painting has been published, as far as I could find. The Tate Papers list it in a footnote but did not examine it. It is not mentioned in the Burlington Magazine introduction (2018).
Support. The three proposals (cardboard, canvas, wood) can only be resolved by examining the back and the edges. Comparative: the Tate Papers study of hidden paintings notes that "During the early years of his career, Modigliani painted on various kinds of support, from cardboard to canvas". The paper study of the nude in Nagoya (C34) and the caryatids on board sold by Sotheby's (C32, C33) show that Modigliani used rigid supports at this period. The thin paint and the visible ground in the reproduction are consistent with either a board or a lightly primed canvas.
Ground. The cream ground left visible over much of the background might be a commercial priming. Comparative: the Burlington introduction found that the canvases studied "seem to have been commercially prepared with an oil-based priming". If the support is cardboard, the ground might be the board itself or a priming applied by the artist.
Signature. The signature in the lower right should be examined to see whether it is painted with the same materials as the picture. Comparative: for the disputed work on works/67, the Secret Modigliani page reports that a technical report questioned the signature. For the present work, no such question has been raised as far as I know, and I do not raise one.
Pigments (comparative only). The red of the figure looks like a vermilion. Comparative: in C40, the outlines of the hand are "painted with vermilion". The blues might be cobalt, ultramarine or Prussian blue, and the yellow might be a chrome yellow or an ochre. These are hypotheses for analysis.

Conclusion

The Nudo in piedi, su fondo di giardino is the strangest of Modigliani's caryatid paintings. It takes the figure of the caryatid, with her closed eyes, her joined brows and nose, her necklace of dots and her red body, and sets her not in a niche of stone but in a garden of palms and red flowers, in front of a blue balustrade. She does not carry anything: her arms are lowered and her hands rest above two yellow vessels. The flat vermilion of her body against the cream ground and the blues and greens of the garden makes it the most decorative of the series. It is also the only one of the caryatid paintings in this batch that is signed.
It is also the least documented. The published data give three different supports, and the dimensions also carry a question mark. The provenance field on the Secret Modigliani page is empty.
A study of the support, the ground and the signature, together with a publication of the Turin owner's documents, would be needed before anything more definite can be said.

Sources

Museum, auction and exhibition sources

1. The Jewish Museum, New York, Modigliani Unmasked, large-print exhibition guide, https://thejewishmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Modigliani_Large_Print_FINAL.pdf

Technical literature (comparative)

1. Barbara Buckley et al., "Modigliani's Painted Nudes: A Technical Study", Tate Papers, no. 35, https://www.tate.org.uk/research/tate-papers/35/modiglianis-painted-nudes-technical-study
2. Anaïs Genty-Vincent et al., "Works by Modigliani that have Paintings beneath the Visible Surface", Tate Papers, no. 35, https://www.tate.org.uk/research/tate-papers/35/works-by-modigliani-that-have-paintings-beneath-the-visible-surface
3. Annette King, Nancy Ireson, Simonetta Fraquelli and Joyce H. Townsend, "The Modigliani Technical Research Study: An introduction to Modigliani's materials and techniques", The Burlington Magazine, vol. 160, no. 1380 (March 2018), https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/article/the-modigliani-technical-research-study-an-introduction-to-modiglianis-materials-and-techniques

Sources that could not be opened

No museum, auction, dealer or technical source on this painting was found online. The 2002 Musée du Luxembourg catalogue and the 2008 Pinacothèque de Paris catalogue, which are its main publications, could not be consulted. Thierry Dufrêne, Modigliani, Paris, 2020, pp. 77–87, cited in the Tate Papers, could not be consulted.

Cited but not independently consulted

Ceroni and Piccioni, I dipinti di Modigliani, 1970, no. 39; Modigliani: l'ange au visage grave, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, 2002, pp. 150–51, no. 16; Victoria Soto Caba, Modigliani: The Timeless Face, Madrid, 2007; Le silence éternel, Pinacothèque de Paris, 2008, p. 33. All are cited from the Secret Modigliani page on the work.