THE BEAUTIFUL ROMAN - LA BELLE ROMAINE  BY AMEDEO MODIGLIANI
Pfannstiel Lanthemann Ceroni J. Modigliani Parisot Patani Restellini Wayne
Nº 147 Nº 141 Nº 192 YES 33/1917 Nº 195 YES YES
Date 1917
Title Seated nude - Nu Assis sur un divan - La belle romaine - The beautiful roman
Materials Oil on canvas
Size 100 x 65 cm
Signature: Signed "modigliani" bottom right
Actual Location Private Collection (China or Hong Kong)
Provenance -?-

Léopold Zborowski, Paris
Sabouraud Collection, Paris (acquired to above in 1929)
Renand Collection, Paris
Sale: Hotel Drouot, Paris, Renand Sale, 20-November-1987 - Lot 6
Private Collection, Asia
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 11- November-1999 - Lot 125
Sold: 15.250.000 USD
Private Collection, Europe

Sale: Sotheby's, New York, Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale - 02- November-2010 - Sale N08675 - Lot 7
Sold: 68.962.500 USD

Private Collection

In Process

Bibliography -?-

Vlaminck, Modigliani, L' Art Vivant, November 1925
Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, Gemälde von Modigliani, Verlagsanstalt Alexander Koch, XXVIII - July 1925
Salmon, Modigliani, sa vie et son oeuvre,Ed. des Quatres Chemins, Paris, 1926, pl. 6
Schwarz, Modigliani, Paris, 1927, pl. 11
Pfannstiel, "catalogue presume" Modigliani. L'Art et la Vie. Preface de Louis Latourrettes, Seheur, Paris, 1929, p. 24
Georges-Michel, Les Montparnos, Paris, 1929, p. 189
Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, Amedeo Modigliani, Darmstadt, January 1931, p. 245
Huyghe, French paintings, the Contemporaries, Paris, 1940, pl. 6
Besson, 1900-1940, Amplepuis-Rhône, 1944, pl. 18
Franchi, Modigliani, Arnaud, Firenze, 1944, p. 11
Franchi, Modigliani, Arnaud, Firenze, 1946, pl. 19
Descargues, Amedeo Modigliani. Braun, Paris, 1951, cover
Carli, Amedeo Modigliani, De Luca, Roma 1952, cover and pl. 17
D'Ancona, Modigliani, Chagall, Soutine, Pascin - Aspetti dell'espressionismo, Edizione del Milione, Milano, 1952, pl. 18
Schmidt, Geschichte der Modernen Malerei, Zürich, 1952, pl. 16
Rivista di Livorno, Omaggio a Amedeo Modigliani, Livorno, 1954, pl. 14
Poisson, La donna nella pittura francese moderna, Novara, 1955, pl. 44/a
Lavavigno, L'Arte Moderna, vol. II, Turin, 1956, p. 1033
Pfannstiel, Modigliani et son oeuvre, etude critique et catalogue raisonne, bibliotheque des arts, Paris, 1956 - nº 147
Brion, La peinture moderne de l'Impressionnisme et l'art abstrait, Paris, 1957, p. 81
Cartier, Modigliani Nus, Hazan, Paris, 1958, pl. 15
Russoli, Amedeo Modigliani, Silvana Editoriale d'Arte, Milano, 1958, pl. 21
Ceroni, Amedeo Modigliani: Peintre; Suivi des Souvenirs de Lunia Czechowska, Edizioni del Milione, 1958 - nº 129 (dated circa 1917-18 and titled Nu Assis au divan)
Rothenstein, The Moderns and their world, The philosophical library, New York, 1958, pl. 34
Franco Russoli, Modigliani, London, 1959, pl. 21
Pavolini, Modigliani, Union Générale d'Éditions en accord avec l'Unesco, Milano 1966, pl. 14
Werner, Amedeo Modigliani, Cercle d'art, Paris,1968, p. 134
Werner, Amedeo Modigliani, New York, 1968, p. 135
Diehl, Modigliani, Ed. Flamarion, Paris, 1969, p. 69
Geza, Modigliani, Budapest, Corvina Kiadó, 1969, pl. 15
Ponente, Modigliani, Ed. Toray, Barcelona, 1969 - nº 50
Lanthemann, Modigliani, catalogue raisonné: sa vie, son oeuvre, son art, G. Condal, Barcelona, 1970 - nº 141 (dated 1916)
Ceroni & Piccioni, Il dipinti di Modigliani, Rizzoli, Milano, 1970 - nº 192 (dated 1917)
Ceroni & Cachin, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Modigliani, Paris, 1972 - nº 192, p. 97, pl. XXXIII
Warnod, La ruche et Montparnasse, 1978, p. 87
Mann, Modigliani, Thames and Hudson, London, 1980 - nº 102, p. 142
Zurcher, Modigliani, Ed. F. Hazan, Paris, 1980, pl. 39-40
Musée de Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Modigliani exib. cat., 1981 - nº 54, p. 137
Modigliani J., Gli anni della scultura, Mondadori, Milan 1984, p. 123
Roy, Modigliani, Nathan, Paris, 1985, pp. 100, 104
Diehl, Modigliani, New York, 1985, p. 59
Roy, Modigliani, Geneva, 1985, pp. 100, 104 and in color on the dust jacket
Werner, Amedeo Modigliani, New York, 1985, pp. 106-107
Castieau-Barrielle, La vie et l'oeuvre de Amedeo Modigliani, Editions ACR, Paris, 1987, p. 149
Parisot, Modigliani, Graphis Arte, 1988, p. 152
Angela Ceroni, Les nus, Biblioteque des Arts, Paris, 1989 - nº 18, p. 71
Millan del Pozo, Modigliani Inédito, Ed. Universidad Complutense, Madrid, 1989, pp. 132,133
Orion Press, Tokyo, 1989 - nº 34
Schmalenbach, Amedeo Modigliani, Prestel, Munich, 1990, p. 113 - nº 62
Parisot, Catalogue Raisonee Modigliani, Graphis Arte, 1991 - nº 33/1917 (titled Nu assis sur le divan (La Belle Romaine))
Patani, Catalogo Generale, Leonardo, Milano, 1991-94 - nº 195 (titled Nudo seduto su un divano)
Parisot, Modigliani, Pierre Terrail, Paris, 1992, p. 111
Kruszynski. Amedeo Modigliani: Portraits and Nudes. Munich, 1996, p. 6
Krystof, Amedeo Modigliani: The Poetry of Seeing, Taschen, Cologne, 2000, p. 65
Soto Caba, Modigliani, The timeless face, Libsa, Madrid, 2007, p. 328
Ireson, Fraquelli, Modigliani, London, Tate Modern, Skira Rizzoli, London, 2017, p. 135

In process

Exhibitions -?-

Zürich, Italienische Maler, Kunsthaus, 1927 - nº 106
Paris, Cent chefs-d'oeuvre des peintres de l'Ecole de Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 1946
Paris, Cent chefs-d'oeuvre d'art francais, Galerie Charpentier, 1947
Paris, L'Art Moderne Italien, Musée national d'Art Moderne, 1950 - nº 49 (titled Nu assis)
Roma, Modigliani, VI Quadriennale, 1952 - nº 13
Tokyo; Osaka; Sapporo; Nagoya, Mitsukoshi, La Ruche-Ecole de Paris et Montparnasse, 1978 - nº 56
Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, La Ruche et Montparnasse, 1978-79 - nº 94
Paris, Modigliani, Musée de Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1981 - nº 54 (titled Nu assis sur un divan / La Belle Romaine)
Düsseldorf, Amedeo Modigliani: Malerei, Skulpturen, Zeichnungen, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 1991 - nº 56
Zurich, Amedeo Modigliani: Malerei, Skulpturen, Zeichnungen, Kunsthaus, 1991 - nº 56
London, Modigliani, Tate Modern, 2017-2018

In process

Other Nº 241 in D' Atri papers dated 1917 - titled Nu Assis - Sabouraud Collection 1929


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Detail of signature in visible normal light:
signature

Detail of the signature in IR;
signature IR

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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 but the lines inside the eyes are more common in previous works:

detail of the face


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This painting presents holes in 2 corners, probably the other 2 holes are covered by restoration.

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Painting was 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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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, ocher and umber-colored 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.- Ocher
6.- Umber-colored 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 Ocher
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).

Just a visual examination ( I have no technical information) fits perfectly in the common visual Modigliani Nude Palette:

pigments

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The painting at the Tate Gallery exhibit in 2017:
The painting at the Tate Gallery exhibit in 2017


The painting framed for auction in 2010:
The painting framed for auction in 2010


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