Identification

Published titles

English: Reclining nude (MoMA); The great nude; Reclining Nude; Chakoska; Nude on a divan.
French: Grand nu couché.

Date

1917–1918 or 1919? The Museum of Modern Art and Wayne date the work circa 1919. Ceroni dates it 1917. Pfannstiel and Lanthemann date it 1919.

Medium

Oil on canvas.

Dimensions

72.4 × 116.5 cm?

Signature

Signed modigliani at bottom right.

Present location

Museum of Modern Art, New York, inv. 13.1950. Acquired at the Josef von Sternberg sale with the Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund.

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

1. Netter Collection, Paris (1926–1928).
2. Modern Paintings, Inc. / Alex Reid & Lefevre, London, no. 156/28 (1928–1932); acquired from Netter through Étienne Bignou, Paris, no. 1074, and Florent Willems in a 50 percent share.
3. Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., New York, no. M-3280 (1932–1946).
4. Josef von Sternberg Collection, Los Angeles (1946–1949); acquired from Seligmann through Pierre F. Nesi, Beverly Hills.
5. Sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, the Josef von Sternberg collection, 22 November 1949, lot 92.
6. Museum of Modern Art, New York, inv. 13.1950 (Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund).

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. Where this investigation listed a long run of secondary mentions, only the principal catalogues and museum or sale references are retained here.

• Arthur Pfannstiel, 1929, p. 53 (dated 1919).¹
• James Thrall Soby, 1949, pl. 51; 1951, p. 45.²
• Arthur Pfannstiel, 1956, no. 336 (dated 1919).³
• Ambrogio Ceroni, 1958, no. 132.⁴
• Joseph Lanthemann, 1970, no. 363 (dated 1919).⁵
• Ambrogio Ceroni and Leone Piccioni, 1970, no. 200 (dated 1917).⁶
• Werner Schmalenbach, 1990, p. 114, no. 63 (circa 1919).⁷
• Christian Parisot, 1991, no. 36/1917.⁸
• Kenneth Wayne, 2002, p. 118, no. 41 (circa 1919).⁹
• Simonetta Fraquelli, 2006, pp. 122–123, no. 37 (circa 1919).¹⁰
• Nancy Ireson and Simonetta Fraquelli, 2017, p. 132.¹¹
• Aviva Burnstock, Isabelle Duvernois and Carol Stringari, 2018.¹²

Exhibitions

• London, Reid & Lefevre, 1929; New York, De Hauke & Co., 1929, no. 22; Chicago, Arts Club, 1929.
• Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1933, no. 61; Basel, Kunsthalle, 1934.
• Chicago, Arts Club, Josef von Sternberg Collection, 1946.
• New York, Museum of Modern Art, Twentieth Century Italian Art, 1949; Recent Acquisitions, 1950; 1951; later MoMA installations.
• Cleveland Museum of Art and New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1951.
• Boston and Los Angeles, 1961, no. 40.
• New York, Perls Galleries, 1966, no. 9; Acquavella Galleries, 1971, no. 48.
• Düsseldorf and Zurich, 1991, no. 59.
• Buffalo and Fort Worth, 2002–03, no. 41.
• London, Royal Academy of Arts, 2006, no. 37.
• Moscow, Pushkin Museum, 2007; Bonn, 2009, no. 127; London, Tate Modern, 2017–18.

Notes

D’Atri papers no. 61, dated 1918, then corrected to 1919 and finally in pencil to 1916; titled Grand nu couché; 73 × 116.5 cm; located at MoMA, New York.

This investigation records a high-gloss varnish layer and cites published statements that Modigliani varnished some nudes to imitate the surface of old-master paintings. Later varnish layers have also been identified on other works. No conservation report for this canvas is published in this investigation.

This investigation records holes at the corners of the support. Holes are recorded at the four corners.

This investigation records that the work was included in the 2018 technical study of the painted nudes.

A 2018 technical study of Modigliani’s painted nudes of 1916–17 (Burnstock, Duvernois and Stringari, The Burlington Magazine) published a limited pigment range used across the analysed nudes: lead white with a low proportion of zinc, vermilion, an organic red lake, iron-oxide pigments (sienna, ochre, umber), Prussian blue, French ultramarine, bone black and viridian. The study notes that not every analysed nude contains every pigment in that list.

The Museum of Modern Art confirms Reclining Nude, inv. 13.1950, oil on canvas, 72.4 × 116.5 cm, dated circa 1919, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund. The museum provenance names Jonas Netter, Alex Reid & Lefèvre (no. 156/28), Jacques Seligmann & Co. (no. M-3280), Josef von Sternberg, and Parke-Bernet, 22 November 1949, lot 92. The date remains in conflict with Ceroni (1917).

This investigation marked several fields as still being checked. The facts above are those already published; where sources disagree, both readings are given.