Paintings listed by Ambrogio Ceroni — 1906–1914

Ambrogio Ceroni (died 1970) was a Milanese banker and appraiser who later worked as an art critic. He was not trained as an art historian; his professional background was commercial (banking and auction-house valuation). He produced the catalogues that became the market’s practical reference for Modigliani’s paintings: the 1958 Amedeo Modigliani peintre (Edizioni del Milione), followed by the 1970 Rizzoli I dipinti di Modigliani (with Leone Piccioni) listing 337 paintings, and a posthumous 1972 edition. He restricted himself to works from Modigliani’s Paris years (1906–1920) and claimed to have examined every painting he included.

According to the detailed review on Secretmodigliani.com, Ceroni’s 337 entries contain roughly 270 errors. These are not minor slips. They include support misidentifications (oil on canvas stated for works on cardboard or wood, in more than ten cases), incorrect measurements on a large number of paintings, failure to note double-sided works, outdated or incomplete location and ownership data even at the time of publication, and dating inconsistencies that place works from the same session in different years. Some of the mistakes are so elementary that they suggest he did not always examine the reverse or the physical support as carefully as he stated. The same analysis notes that several works he accepted have since been identified as fakes and quietly dropped from circulation.

Ceroni remains the “best of the worst” because every competing catalogue has been judged still less reliable. Lanthemann’s list is widely regarded as inflated and is ignored by major auction houses when it stands alone. Pfannstiel’s early work is treated as historically interesting but insufficient. Parisot’s catalogues and certificates have been repeatedly contested in court. Restellini’s 2026 volumes expand the corpus and remove some Ceroni entries, yet they have not displaced Ceroni as the default market filter.

Auction houses (Christie’s and Sotheby’s in particular) continue to treat a Ceroni number as the practical threshold for bringing a painting to sale at the top end: “If it’s not in Ceroni, it’s good-bye.” Works outside the catalogue can still sell, but they typically require additional expert opinions and command substantially lower prices and liquidity.

In short, Ceroni’s catalogue is incomplete, contains a high proportion of factual errors, and was produced by a non-specialist using the tools and access available in the 1950s–60s. It is retained by the market not because it is accurate or exhaustive, but because the alternatives have so far proved less usable as a commercial reference. Its authority is conventional rather than scholarly, and it functions more as a risk-management device for dealers and auction houses than as a definitive record of Modigliani’s production.

Works as numbered in the printed catalogue: 1906 to 1914

1 Woman bust 1906-7 Oil on canvas 33 x 27 cm P.C. Paris Oil on canvas laid down on board. Correct size: 32.7 x 24.8 cm 2 Woman head 1906-7 Oil on canvas 33 x 24 cm P.C. France 3 Woman head in profile 1906-7 Oil on canvas 33.5 x 29.5 cm P.C. France 4 Woman bust 1907 Oil on canvas 45.5 x 32.5 cm P.C. London Correct size: 46.1 x 33.2 cm 5 Woman with blue shawl 1907 Oil on canvas 33 x 24 cm P.C. USA Correct size: 30.5 x 22.9 cm 6 Young Woman bust 1908 Oil on canvas 56 x 55 cm Jean Masurel Coll. Correct size: 58 x 55 cm 7a (RECTO) Nude Woman bust 1908 Oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm P.C. France 7b (VERSO) Maud Abrantes 1908 Oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm P.C. France 8 Nude study 1908 Oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm P.C. France Correct size:81 x 53.3 cm 9 The Jewess 1908 Oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm P.C. France Correct size: 54.5 x 46 cm 10 Bust of young nude 1908 Oil on canvas 61 x 38 cm P.C. France Actually dated in 1909 ? 11 Seated Nude 1908 Oil on canvas 73 x 50 cm P.C. France Actually dated in 1909 ? 12 J. Baptiste Alexandre Portrait 1909 Oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm P.C. France Correct size: 92 x 75 cm 13 Study for Alexandre Portrait 1909 Oil on canvas - NOT GIVEN - - NOT GIVEN - as lost 14 Alexandre, brown background 1909 Oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm P.C. France 15 Alexandre, green background 1909 Oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm P.C. France Correct size: 100.5 x 81.5 cm 16 (RECTO) Portrait of Jean Alexandre 1909 Oil on canvas 81 x 60 cm P.C. France NOT INCLUDED OR EVEN MENTIONED(Nº 16 VERSO) 1909 Oil on canvas 81 x 60 cm F. Pierre Gianadda Martigny, Switzerland 17 Portrait of Pedro? The typographer 1909 Oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm Dedhamm, USA. Correct size is: 54.9 x 46.3 cm 18 Portrait of Maurice Drouard 1909 Oil on canvas 61 x 46 cm P.C. France Correct size is: 59 x 44 cm CERONI GIVES THE NEXT TEXT FOR Nº 16: Jean Alexander, France, P. C. - After the portrait of Alexander´s father and of his friend Paul, Modigliani painted Jean brother of the last one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The verso of no. 16 is shown as an example of Ceroni’s method. He included the painting but never see it live? Painted in both sides of the canvas so it is impossible to not see the second painting in a SIMPLE visual examination... Even in the case he considered the verso not by Modigliani, it should also must be mentioned. 19 (RECTO) Engraver Weill 1909 Oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm P.C. France NOT INCLUDED OR EVEN MENTIONED(Nº 19 VERSO) 1909 Oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm The Kreeger Museum Washington D.C. 20 Beggar woman 1909 Oil on canvas 46 x 38 cm P.C. France 21 The Amazon 1909 Oil on canvas 92 x 65 cm New York, C. Lewyt CERONI GIVES THE NEXT TEXT FOR Nº 19: Engraver Weill (?) Paris, Col. A Weinberger. There are no Definitive data of the possible theme for the painting, It was first exhibited in 1958 at the Modigliani Exhibition in Charpentier Gallery with the title given. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The verso of no. 19 is shown as an example of Ceroni’s method. He included the painting but never see it live? Painted in both sides of the canvas so it is impossible to not see the second painting in a SIMPLE visual examination... Even in the case he considered the verso not by Modigliani, it should also must be mentioned. Correct size: 72 x 59 cm Correct size: 46 x 37.5 cm Correct size: 92 x 65.6 cm 22 a (RECTO) Study for the Cellist 1909 Oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm P.C. France 22b (VERSO) Study of Brancusi Portrait? 1909 Oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm P.C. France 23 The Cellist 1909 Oil on canvas 130 x 81 cm P.C. France Correct size is: 131 x 81 cm 24 The Beggar 1909 Oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm P.C. France Correct size is: 65.8 x 52.4 cm 25 Engraver Maurice Potin 1909 Oil on canvas 42 x 25 cm M. Valloton Coll. Paris Also dated in 1908 26 Woman with hat 1909 Oil on canvas 35 x 27 cm Denise Sasportas Coll. Oil on cardboard No Mention to painting on verso 27 Joseph Levi 1909 Oil on canvas 55 x 50 cm Levi Coll. N.Y. Correct size: 55 x 46 cm 28 Young gypsy 1909 Oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm P.C. London 29 Head of young woman 1910 Oil on canvas 41 x 27 cm P.C. France Correct size: 40.5 x 27 cm 30 Bust of young woman 1910 Oil on canvas 55 x 38 cm P.C. France Correct size: 54.5 x 37.5 cm 31 Paul Alexandre 1911-12 Oil on canvas 92 x 60 cm P.C. France 32 Standing nude, arms half down 1911-12 Oil on paper 120 x 40 cm P.C. USA Oil on cardboard Correct size: 121.9 x 40.64 cm 33 Standing nude arms crossed 1911-12 Oil on paper 120 x 40 cm P.C. USA Oil on cardboard Correct size: 121.9 x 40.64 cm 34 Standing nude arms crossed 1911-12 Oil on paper 83 x 48 cm P.C. USA Oil on cardboard over panel Correct size: 82.8 x 47.9 cm Nagoya city art Museum, Nagoya, Japan 35 cariatide, right bended knee 1913 Oil on canvas 75 x 50 cm K. N. Westfalen, Germany 36 Standing cariatide 1913 Oil on canvas 81 x 46 cm P.C. Tokyo Oil on cardboard Correct size is: 87.6 x 67 cm Aichi prefectural museum of Art, Japan 37 Standing cariatide 1913 Oil on canvas 81 x 45 cm P.C. London, UK. Correct size is: 80 x 45.8 cm MR say 81.5 x 45 cm 38 Red bust 1913 Oil on canvas 81 x 40 cm P.C. France Correct size is: 81.2 x 53.3 cm 39 Standing nude on a garden 1913 Oil on canvas 81 x 50 cm P.C. Torino, Italy Oil on cardboard 40 Paul Alexandre 1913 Oil on canvas 80 x 45 cm P.C. France Correct size is: 81 x 45.6 cm Musée des beaux-arts, Rouen 41 Study for Diego Rivera 1914 Oil on canvas 100 x 79 cm MASP. Sao Paulo, Brazil. Oil on cardboard Correct size is: 100.2 x 81.3 cm MASP 42 Portrait of Diego Rivera 1914 Oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm P.C. France Oil on cardboard Correct size is: 104 x 75 cm Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen 43 Study for the Portrait of Frank Burty Haviland 1914 Oil on paper 61 x 50 cm L.A.C.M.A, USA. Correct size is: 62.2 x 49.5 cm Oil on cardboard 44 Portrait of Frank Burty Haviland 1914 Oil on paper 73 x 60 cm Mattioli Coll. Milano Oil on cardboard Next Period 1915 > 45 Portrait of Beatrice Hastings 1914 Oil on canvas 102 x 48 cm - NOT GIVEN - As lost Oil and graphite on cardboard Correct size is: 102 x 48.5 cm Hotel Drouot, May 1939 - lot 76 46 Beatrice Hastings with hat 1914 Oil on canvas 58 x 37 cm P.C. Paris Oil on cardboard Correct size is:55 x 46 cm 47 Woman seated with a glass 1914-15 Oil on paper 102 x 51 cm Tenoudji Coll. Paris Oil on cardboard Size: 103 x 50 cm 1906 - 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919

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.