Description
Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne II is an oil on canvas by Amedeo Modigliani, dated to 1917 and 1918; the original measures 46 × 29 cm, is signed lower right and is in private hands. Our canvas painting is a hand-painted copy of that work: an academy-trained painter makes it in oil on cotton canvas, in eight sizes from 29 × 46 cm to 100 × 160 cm or in the size you specify, and before dispatch we photograph it and send you the photograph for approval.
| Title: | Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne II |
| Other titles: | Jeanne Hébuterne frontal · Head of Jeanne Hébuterne |
| Painter: | Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) |
| Year: | 1917–1918 |
| Original size (height × width): | 46 × 29 cm, portrait format |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas, signed lower right |
| Painting style: | Modern art, École de Paris |
| Where it is: | Private collection, no accession number – closest catalogue record |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, eight sizes from 29 × 46 cm to 100 × 160 cm; the smallest is the original’s own measurement |
Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne II – Amedeo Modigliani
What is on the canvas?
Head and shoulders, close to frontal, the head inclined a little and the gaze going off to one side rather than straight at us. The hair is long, wavy and chestnut, parted in the middle and falling over both shoulders, and it takes up almost as much of the canvas as the face. The face is long and pale, the nose long, the mouth small and pink. The eyes are dark and they do have irises and whites — this is not the blank almond of the nudes, and the look is a real look. At the collarbone sits a small pale grey-blue shape, a bow or a clasp at the neckline. Below it is a black off-shoulder garment, and at the right edge a dark red-brown form with a lighter shape beneath it closes the composition. The ground is a warm grey, not flat but scumbled and slightly greenish towards the top left. The signature runs along the bottom right corner. On a canvas this small every stroke shows, so the picture reads more as drawing in colour than as a painted surface. It is a post-impressionist painting in the sense in which post-impressionism meant building a head out of contour and flat colour rather than out of the light in a room. In Paris Modigliani belonged to that circle of immigrant painters we now call the École de Paris.
Where is the original today?
In a private collection, so there is no accession number and we quote none. The measurement of 46 by 29 centimetres is confirmed by an independent catalogue listing, and we keep it. The year we give as a span exactly as our record gives it; the same catalogue entry offers 1918 with 1917–18 as an alternative, so our span and the literature agree rather than conflict. A more precise statement that is not better supported would not be an improvement.
Which Jeanne is this?
Modigliani painted her many times, and several of the small bust-length portraits are the same size to the centimetre, which makes the catalogue literature hard to pin to one canvas. The closest record we found, linked in the table above, is a frontal Jeanne of these measurements in private hands, described as a slender head on a slender neck, brown parted hair framing the face, against a grey-blue ground — which is this picture. One detail does not line up: that entry places the signature at the top right, and on the canvas we reproduce it runs along the bottom right. Because of that we attach no catalogue number to this page and print none.
A technical study of these portraits
The Tate has published a technical and material study of six of the Jeanne Hébuterne portraits, and it explains a good deal about how a canvas like this one was made. Twenty-six portraits of her are known. The small bust-length ones measure about 46 by 29 centimetres, which is not an arbitrary size but a standard French commercial format, the marine no. 8 of the Lefranc system — he bought his canvases ready-made and off the shelf. The grounds are white and lead-based. Under the paint there is carbon drawing, sketched straight onto the ground, and after it he went back over the outlines with thinned black paint, which is why the contour reads as a drawn line and not as an edge between two colours. The paint itself is thin. The palette is economical: ochres, lead and zinc white, chrome and cadmium yellows, cobalt and Prussian blue, umbers and iron oxides, with vermilion kept for the lips.
The smallest canvas on our shelf
Of all the Modigliani works we reproduce this is the smallest: 46 by 29 centimetres, smaller than a sheet of A2 paper. A portrait this size was not made for the wall of a large room but for closeness — a table, a shelf, a narrow strip of wall where someone stands a step away. That is also why the drawing matters more here than on the big canvases: at this scale there is no room to build colour in stages, and the outline of the face and the fall of the hair have to be right the first time.
How is our hand-painted version made?
The work is made by an academy-trained painter in oil on cotton canvas over a wooden frame. It is not a print: every stroke is laid by hand, and your canvas always differs a little from any other. Here the difficulty is that the picture is mostly hair and mostly one colour, and the hair still has to have direction, weight and a parting; if it is brushed flat the head floats. The second difficulty is the ground, which looks plain and is not: it is worked, slightly green in one corner and warmer in another, and a flat grey behind this face kills it. When the paint is dry we photograph the work and send the photograph for approval.
Which size for which wall?
Our smallest rung, 29 × 46 cm, is the original’s own measurement, so if you want the picture at the size Modigliani painted it, that is the one — and it is the size the picture was designed for. The next sizes, 40 × 60 and 50 × 80 cm, still read as a portrait rather than a statement and suit a hallway, a stairwell or a bedroom wall. From 60 × 100 and 70 × 110 cm upward the head reaches life size, which is a different picture from the one he painted but a very good one on a living-room wall. The largest, 80 × 130, 90 × 140 and 100 × 160 cm, want a free wall and three metres in front of them. Hang it with the centre about 145 cm above the floor; the small sizes want to be lower, at the eye level of someone standing close.
Custom size, stretcher and frame
If your wall asks for a size that is not listed, we will make it. Give us the width and height in centimetres; we check whether the proportion carries the composition and tell you what changes at the edges. Here it shows at the sides, where the hair already touches both edges and a narrower format cuts into it, and at the bottom, where the signature sits in the corner. It arrives either stretched on a wooden frame, ready to hang, or rolled in a tube, which is cheaper to ship. You pick the frame in our 3D application, which shows it realistically on the work, and on request we set it into a photograph of your wall. If you are looking for a work we do not carry, see our made-to-order paintings.
Delivery and guarantee
We deliver to your address, the canvas clear of the outer wall of the packaging. Lead time depends on size and the workshop load: we estimate it when you order and tell you if it changes. We guarantee workmanship and materials: if the work arrives damaged or does not match the photograph you approved, we repaint it at our cost. Because you see it photographed before it ships, most questions are settled before it leaves.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In a private collection. We do not name an owner and we have not seen the canvas ourselves.
What is the accession number?
There is none. Accession numbers belong to museums, and this work is privately held.
When was it painted?
We give 1917 to 1918. The catalogue literature dates the group of Jeanne portraits mainly to 1918 and 1919.
Is the painting signed?
Yes, along the bottom right corner of the canvas we reproduce.
Is this a print?
No. Every canvas is painted by hand, in oil. We print nothing.
Do you have the original’s size?
Yes. Our smallest rung, 29 × 46 cm, is the measurement of the original.
Which size should I choose?
For a bedroom or a hallway, 40 × 60 cm. For a living-room wall, 70 × 110 cm.
Can I have a size that is not on the list?
Yes. Give us the width and height in centimetres; we explain first how the size affects the crop.
How does it arrive?
Stretched on a wooden frame ready to hang, or rolled in a tube. Both travel in protective packaging.
How many portraits of Jeanne did he paint?
Twenty-six are known. She was his companion and the mother of his child, and she died the day after he did.
Which other portraits of Jeanne do you have?
See Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne I, Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne III, Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne V and Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne in Black and Red Dress. The full choice is in the Amedeo Modigliani gallery, and we have written a longer article about the painter.
- Subject: Jeanne Hébuterne head and shoulders, long chestnut hair parted in the middle, a black off-shoulder garment, a worked grey ground
- Original: 46 × 29 cm, oil on canvas, signed lower right, private collection — no accession number
- Our version: hand-painted oil on canvas, eight sizes from 29 × 46 to 100 × 160 cm, the smallest being the original’s own measurement
- Worth knowing: 46 by 29 cm is a standard French shop canvas, the marine no. 8, and the contour was drawn in carbon and then gone over in thinned black paint
