Description
Beatrice – a hand-painted reproduction of the Modigliani
Beatrice is Modigliani’s 1916 portrait of the poet Béatrice Hastings, and among our reproductions on canvas it is the most cubist on this shelf: the face is cut through by a black band, and the name is lettered in capitals across the top of the picture. The original is held by the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Ours is a hand-painted fine art reproduction, oil on canvas.
What is on the canvas
Across the top, in large block capitals, the name BEATRICE is painted. Below it a woman is shown to the chest, built almost cubistically: a pink oval face cut in two by a vertical black band, narrow dark eyes, a small red mouth. Above sits a wide black hat, with a grey-blue plume at the upper left. At the right stands a brown-orange curved form; at the lower right an olive-brown coat with a single dark round button. At the upper right is a pale panel in which columns of printed lettering can be seen — the trace of newspaper. The signature stands at the lower left.
A newspaper pasted to the painting
The museum states something that can be checked against the photograph: a strip of newspaper was once pasted to the surface, and traces of its printing ink are still visible in the background, just below the name. That is why the museum gives the technique as oil on canvas with newsprint rather than simply oil on canvas. It is also why the face looks so angular: in this year Modigliani was trying cubist approaches, and the portrait is taken apart into planes and edges. Our reproduction is painted in oil on canvas; we do not paste newspaper, we paint the trace as it appears today.
The record of the original, and which Béatrice this is
The original measures 55 cm high and 38.2 cm wide; we give width first, so on our page it reads 38.2 x 55 cm, and the specification names the order in words as well. The number is BF361, and Albert C. Barnes purchased the work from Paul Guillaume in Paris in January 1925 — so it was in Philadelphia eight years before 1933. ⚠️ This shelf also carries another portrait of the same poet, from a private collection: that is not another version but a different canvas, and it is exactly why this work carries the museum’s own title, Beatrice. The proportions of our canvas follow the original.
What you receive
Our painter works the picture by hand, oil on canvas, at the size you choose. The subject is graphic and severe: broad planes, a black band across the face, and lettering across the top. That is why it stands alone well on a quiet wall and carries a large format, where the lettering only then reads properly. The colours are earthy — olive, brown, pink — so a wooden or black frame suits it. When the canvas is finished we photograph it and send you the photograph for approval. You choose the frame in our 3D application. Every painting we make is hand-painted and never printed.
| Year of creation: | 1916 |
| Original size (width × height): | 38.2 x 55 cm |
| Painting style: | Expressionism |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas with newsprint |
| Located: | The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (inv. BF361) |
This shelf also carries the other Portrait of Beatrice Hastings, a different canvas of the same poet, and Girl with a Polka-Dot Blouse — likewise from the Barnes collection.
