Lost Amedeo Modigliani Portrait Resurfaces in Venice
A once-lost Amedeo Modigliani painting has resurfaced in Venice after more than 100 years out of the public eye. Portraying the artist’s muse Jeanne Hébuterne, the portrait has been identified by experts as a preparatory study for its larger counterpart, an almost identical composition held by the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
The portrait offers a special rarity for those interested in the artist’s practice because Modigliani was known to create sketches and studies when preparing to execute larger works, but few survived his habit of reusing canvases.
Art critic and historian Saverio Simi de Burgis—who contributed to the authentication process—shared that the patron of Modigliani, Paul Alexandre, begged the artist to preserve such studies and repeatedly asked to be able to buy them. However, as modern analysis has revealed, many of the artist’s known paintings were made on canvases and supports that already hosted previous works.
Held within a private collection, the portrait was composed on a wooden panel measuring 27.5 x 19.2 cm. It bears the artist’s signature in its top right corner and an inscription on its reverse made by Modigliani’s friend and art dealer Léopold Zborowski. The handwritten note dates the painting’s creation to 1919 and identifies the artist. It also reveals that Zborowski gifted the composition to Giuseppe Durini, the Baron of Bolognano, in 1920.
From that moment, recorded for posterity by Zborowski in blue ink, the provenance of this historic artwork remains shrouded in mystery until the 1970s when a Venetian, who remains the owner today, stumbled upon the painting and purchased it for just 55,000 Italian lira, which would represent only a few hundred of today’s American dollars.
Following the painting’s recent authentication by the Judge presiding, Dr. Fabio Doro, at the Court of Venice after several years of detailed analysis, sources indicate that the portrait’s latest evaluation suggests a contemporary value as high as 60 million US dollars.
Numerous reports were submitted to the court ahead of the painting’s authentication, including the results of analysis by X-ray, infrared, and Ramen microscopy to confirm the chronological origins of the painting’s material composition, carried out at the universities of Modena, Reggio Emilia, and Genoa, and in the laboratory of Thierry Radelet in Torino.
The portrait was also stylistically assessed for consistency and method of execution, with comparisons made to other works by Modigliani within the same year, such as The boy, 1919, held by the Indianapolis Museum; Self-portrait, 1919, held by the Museum of São Paulo; and Reclining nude with head resting on right arm, also from 1919, held within a private collection.
Finally, in another exciting aspect of the authentication of this momentous artwork, judicial graphologist and technical consultant for the Court of Venice, Dr. Milena Bellato, was also able to authenticate the inscription of Léopold Zborowski through comparison with verified documents written by the art dealer and held in archive in Paris.
As highlighted by the lawyer Pierpaolo Alegiani who represented the painting’s owner during proceedings, these findings provide, in a sense, a double authentication for this unique artwork by the beloved Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani—the first by Zborowski over a century ago, and the second by the modern-day Court of Venice.
