Description
Amedeo Modigliani – Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne V (1918)
Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne V, also known as Jeanne Hébuterne in a Large Hat, is a 1918 oil on canvas by Amedeo Modigliani. The canvas is 38 cm wide and 55 cm high. We supply it as a hand-painted fine art reproduction, painted in oil on canvas stroke by stroke, made to order and never printed.
What is on the canvas
The woman sits slightly turned, the index finger of her right hand raised to her chin, the elbow resting on a dark shape at the lower right. Above all of this is an enormous straw hat with a black crown, which takes up almost the whole upper third of the canvas. The face is elongated and pale, the eyes blue and without pupils, the mouth small and red. The hair shows under the hat only as two dark strands at the sides. The ground is a warm orange-red and smooth, with no objects in it. The signature is upper right. The painting is small, but the hat makes it read as far larger than it is.
Where the original is today
The original is privately owned, so there is no accession number and we quote none. One detail was corrected while this page was prepared: our listing previously read 1917, and the painting is from 1918. The correction rests on two independent sources that agree; the measurements of 38 by 55 centimetres and the medium, oil on canvas, were checked and are unchanged. Because the work is in private hands we state nothing about the present owner that is not firmly established.
A curiosity: the hat as geometry
Modigliani rarely painted accessories — most of his portraits carry no jewellery and no headgear, because those would pull attention away from the face. Here he does the opposite and puts the hat at the centre of the composition. The wide brim draws an almost perfect circle, through which the elongated face cuts vertically; the raised finger continues that vertical downwards and carries it to the edge of the canvas. What we are left with is two simple shapes, a circle and a vertical, holding the whole picture together. That is why this portrait feels more decisive than the other small portraits of the same sitter, although it is no bigger: it is carried by shape rather than by expression.
What you receive
Our painter works the reproduction in oil on canvas at the size you choose; the proportions follow the original, so an upright format stays upright. Because the original is small, this subject is often ordered larger; the hat and the face both take the enlargement without loss. When the painting is finished we photograph it and send you the photograph for approval before it leaves the studio. You choose the frame in our 3D application, which draws it realistically onto the picture, and on request we will place the painting onto a photograph of your own wall before you buy. All our reproductions on canvas are hand-painted, never printed.
| Year of creation: | 1918 |
| Original size: | 38 x 55 cm |
| Painting style: | Expressionism |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Located: | Private collection |
This is the most recognisable of the portraits of Jeanne Hébuterne and also the most decorative, without being any shallower for it. On a wall it reads as a single clear shape you can identify from the other side of a room.
