Description
Amedeo Modigliani – Jeanne Hébuterne in a White Chemise (1919), hand-painted reproduction
This canvas of 1919 is held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Jeanne Hébuterne, the painter’s partner, sits in a white chemise with thin straps, one forearm resting on the mustard-yellow back of a chair and the hand raised to her cheek. We make it as a hand-painted oil on canvas, to order; among our reproductions on canvas it is one of the lightest and airiest, which is comparatively rare in a Modigliani portrait.
What is on the canvas
The figure is seated, turned slightly to the left. She wears a white chemise with thin straps; the shoulders are bare and the sitter is clothed – this is a portrait, not a nude, and it was judged that way on sight rather than from its title. The right forearm rests on the mustard-yellow back of a chair with the hand raised to the cheek. Chestnut hair falls loose across the shoulders. The eyes are blue almonds, the face resolved in a few quiet strokes. The ground is a blue-green wall. The signature is upper right.
The last year
The canvas dates from 1919, less than a year before the painter’s death. Modigliani was living in Paris again after his time in the south; Jeanne was pregnant with their second child. Most of the portraits by which he is recognised today come from this stretch. The tone of these last canvases is calmer and lighter than what came before: the colour is thinner, the handling more economical.
The record, and a note on the title
The original is oil on canvas and measures 73 x 91 cm; it is held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York under inventory number 56.184.2. The year 1919 is recorded to year precision, so we print it. The measurements were read together with their unit. Note that the museum catalogues the work simply as Jeanne Hebuterne – a title six other canvases of the same sitter already carry on our shelf. A bare repeat would be indistinguishable to a customer, so our shelf title names the garment; the museum’s own title is given here, in the text, and no existing title was changed.
What you receive
The painting is made for you by hand, oil on canvas, to order, in the size you choose, including custom sizes. The motif is light, so it also sits well in a smaller room; a fine art reproduction of this kind works where there is not much daylight. The work takes some weeks and every copy differs slightly; that is the consequence of a person painting it rather than a machine, not a defect. We send you a photograph of the finished canvas before it ships. Our 3D application lets you choose a frame and renders that frame realistically on screen; separately, our visualization service places the picture on your own wall before you buy. It is never a print.
| Year of creation: | 1919 |
| Original size (width × height): | 73 x 91 cm |
| Painting style: | Expressionism |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Located: | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 56.184.2) |
The hand at the cheek is a gesture Modigliani used rarely, and it is what separates this canvas from the other portraits of the same sitter. On a wall it reads as a quiet, bright pause.
