Identification

Published titles

English: Reclining nude (Metropolitan Museum); Reclining nude; Lying nude.

Date

1917? Ceroni 1958 dates the work 1918. Lanthemann dates it 1916.

Medium

Oil on canvas.

Dimensions

60.6 × 92.7 cm. The 1958 Charpentier exhibition: 62 × 92 cm.

Signature

Signed modigliani at top right in white.

Present location

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. 1997.149.9. Gift of Klaus G. Perls, 1997.

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. Léopold Zborowski, Paris.
2. Galerie Weill, Paris (1917)?
3. Léopold Zborowski, Paris.
4. Georges Menier Collection, Paris (acquired 1926; until 1933).
5. Claude Menier Collection, Paris (1933–1958).
6. Galerie Mouradian-Vallotton, Paris.
7. Perls Galleries, New York (acquired 1960, stock no. 6254).
8. Klaus G. Perls Collection, New York (until 1997).
9. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. 1997.149.9. Gift of Klaus G. Perls, 1997.

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.

• André Salmon, 1926, pl. 8 (as Femme endormie, 1917, collection G. Meunier).¹
• Arthur Pfannstiel, 1929, pp. 20–21 (dated 1917).²
• Arthur Pfannstiel, 1956, no. 132 (dated 1917).³
• Ambrogio Ceroni, 1958, no. 130 (dated 1918).⁴
• Joseph Lanthemann, 1970, no. 153 (dated 1916).⁵
• Ambrogio Ceroni and Leone Piccioni, 1970, no. 199 (dated 1917).⁶
• Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1981, p. 134.
• Angela Ceroni, 1989, pp. 82–83, no. 24 (dated 1917).⁷
• Christian Parisot, 1991, no. 40/1917.⁸
• Osvaldo Patani, 1991–94, no. 208 (dated 1917).⁹
• Simonetta Fraquelli, 2006, p. 63, no. 20.¹⁰

Exhibitions

• Paris, Berthe Weill Gallery, 1917 (recorded with a query).
• Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Cent tableaux de Modigliani, 1958, no. 48.
• Marseille, Musée Cantini, 1958, no. 19.
• New York, Perls Galleries, 1960, 1963 no. 17, 1966 no. 1, 1972.
• New York, Acquavella Galleries, 1971, no. 37 (dated 1918).
• Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1981, no. 51.
• Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1983.
• New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Painters in Paris, 2000–01.
• Kyoto and Tokyo, Picasso and the School of Paris, 2002–03, no. 34.
• New York, Toronto and Washington, Modigliani: Beyond the Myth, 2004–05.
• Houston and Berlin, Masterpieces of French Painting from the Metropolitan Museum, 2007, no. 130.
• Madrid, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2008, no. 109.

Notes

D’Atri papers no. 237, dated 1917, titled Nu couché, 60 × 92 cm, Meunier Collection.

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. Three corners are recorded; the fourth hole is described as probably covered by restoration.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art confirms Reclining Nude, inv. 1997.149.9, oil on canvas, 1917, 60.6 × 92.7 cm. The credit line is The Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls Collection, 1997. The published chain (Léopold Zborowski; Georges Menier; Claude Menier; Galerie Mouradian-Vallotton; Perls Galleries) agrees with the museum provenance.

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